By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
When the Burlington Area School District School Board sent advertising, sponsorship and naming rights policies back to a committee for more work last month, one comment made was that the policies were too long.
As became readily apparent Monday night in the November Policy Committee meeting, that length had a purpose.
With all three policies up for discussion, the only one getting a thorough examination was the advertising policy. Sponsorship and naming rights policies were briefly touched on before the committee adjourned after more than an hour’s worth of discussion.
The committee will meet again next month to discuss any changes and whether to send the policies back to the full board.
The meeting ran long because of the sheer length of the policy – six pages long with criteria for everything from advertising to the space used to what products would and would be considered.
The policy – along with those on sponsorship and naming – was the result of the work of an ad hoc committee that BASD Superintendent Peter Smet said met about 10 times to iron out what is in the policy.
“It took the 10 of us 10 meetings,” Smet explained. “We’re not going to cover it in 15 minutes.”
The ad hoc committee had a handful of members present to answer questions Monday night, including Karen Tolle, Jim Berndt and Kevin Bird, plus Smet, Burlington High School Activities Director Eric Plitzuweit and School Board members.
The group not only had to consider what would be best for BHS, they said, but also what had worked best for other schools.
The end result were the three policies, all of comparable length and detail.
“A lot of work was obviously put into this,” said School Board member Roger Koldeway.
Some of the highlights of the policy:
• The recommendation for the district is to use three basic methods for advertising: product sales, direct advertising and indirect advertising.
Product sales allow a name brand to place a sign – or give incentives – for use of the product. Examples include the district perhaps selling only Coke or Pepsi products.
Direct advertising uses the electronic billboards at the school to avoid the proliferation of sign placement, or corporate logos and brand names on equipment. That would also cover ads in school publications such as the yearbook and event programs, and free samples.
Indirect advertising includes items such as corporate-sponsored instructional materials and teacher training.
• The policy specifically points out a few forbidden areas: student athletes not being allowed to advertise (which is against WIAA rules), not allowing advertising that would be disruptive or promote use of drugs, tobacco, weapons or lewd or vulgar behavior.
The School Board would also reserve the right to consider advertisements on a case-by-case basis, and potentially reject a sponsorship or advertisement.
• Advertising criteria includes: no advertisements being construed as endorsements by the district, an annual review of the material, and the right to terminate an advertisement if deemed not advantageous or inappropriate. All advertisers would cover their costs, be expected to comply with the district wellness policy and not discriminate.
In addition, no political causes, activities or candidates would be allowed to advertise, and advertising would not be allowed to disrupt learning. Students would not be solicited for funds, and the advertising would not be allowed to jeopardize the safety of students or staff.
• A written contract would be put into place before any advertising would begin, with specific provisions for financial terms, hold harmless clauses and removal of the advertising at the end of the contract. The district would have authority over content and placement, district administration would view and approve all materials, and a warranty regarding intellectual property would be put in place.
• Advertisements would be limited to public spaces, and revenues would have to be properly reported, accounted for and put in one place and distributed by the School Board. Revenue other than maintenance, repair and operation of the electronic bulletin boards would be used to make purchases benefiting students.
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