By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
The opinions hadn’t changed.
The arguments were the same.
“It seems if someone has money, we’re going to name it after them,” said Burlington Area School District School Board Member Rosanne Hahn.
“It says the naming rights MAY be awarded,” said Board President Bill Campbell.
“It opens the floodgates,” pointed out Board Member Roger Koldeway.”
After those members and others took a final look at the proposed naming rights police in Monday night’s Policy Committee meeting – and heard a few more thoughts from Burlington High School Principal Eric Burling – the policy died without a seconded motion.
The naming rights policy was the last of four brought forward by an ad hoc committee working to define district policy on social media, advertising, sponsorships and naming rights. The issue came to a head last year when the football stadium at BHS was renamed “Don Dalton Stadium,” though board policy suggested waiting until a person had been dead at least 10 years.
The policy committee was unable to reach a decision and sent the proposed policy to the full board for a decision in January. The full board then sent it back to policy, saying it was the committee’s job to reach a consensus.
There was little new at Monday night’s meeting. Burling did suggest moving a later piece of the policy – the phrase “maintain an appropriate balance between commercial considerations and the role which names and buildings and spaces contribute to the school district’s sense of identity” – to the beginning, under the general policy statement.
Beyond that, though, the committee seemed to spin its wheels.
Policy Committee and School Board Member Jim Bousman laid it out that the board had three choices – keep the current policy, change it and allow for discretion in administering it, or add language to further clarify what would and would not be acceptable.
“We have some options here, if we’re willing to consider them,” Bousman said.
School Board Member Todd Terry made a reference to “heads in the sand” and that the district could use the added revenue, to which Hahn took some offense.
Bousman and Koldeway then kicked the idea back and forth – along with Terry – that not changing the policy could scare away donors.
In the end, Bousman made a motion to accept the policy with the change suggested by Burling. However, it died due to lack of a second.
Karen Tolle, a citizen member of the ad hoc committee, expressed frustration that while the subject was currently topical, the lack of a new policy would lead to problems down the road.
“We all know about it now,” Tolle said. “But 10 years from now, not all the board members may know about it.”
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