North Penn School District: Your Ad Here

Forget your favorite magazines and TV commercials — now students, faculty and teachers will be able to view advertisements, promotions and other hype inside their various schools.

The North Penn School Board voted 5-2-2 last Thursday to allow advertisements inside school buildings, with the thought that it could bring the district between $100,000 and $500,000 in annual revenue.

Board members Carolyn Murphy and Suzan Leonard voted against the advertising policy, according to an article in The Reporter. Board members Rick Miniscalco and Frank O’Donnell were absent.

Those who voted in favor of the policy were President Vince Sherpinsky, Vice President Tim Kerr, Steve Hladik, John Schilling and Joseph Sullivan.

According to Linda Stein of The Reporter, ads will be prohibited in classrooms, offices and libraries, and on entrance signs.

Offensive, vulgar, inappropriate, obscene, pornographic and lewd ads will not be allowed, and the same goes for ads promoting gambling, violence, hatred, sexual misconduct, tobacco, drugs or alcohol, according to the article.

School administrators will be the clearinghouse for all ads in the schools, according to the article.

Advertisements could be in place by early 2013, as school board President Vince Sherpinsky told The Reporter that Requests for Proposals to ad agencies will be sent out soon and be returned for approval in December.

Ads can be placed in sporting areas, and would most likely promote sporting goods stores or brands of sneakers, according to the articles.

Most ads inside the school will be focused on wellness or education, according to the article.

Dissenters Murphy and Leonard found the policy distasteful, according to the article.

Murphy was quoted in the article:

There are too many unanswered questions. (It is) just raising money for the sake of raising money. The inside of our buildings is sacred.

Leonard said in the article:

Right from the beginning, I found it distasteful to put billboards in school buildings. When you put it in hallways it belittles the North Penn School District.

The policy was recommended by the Alternative Revenue Committee, which was formed to develop policies and procedures for the district to save money.

Read more about the passing of the advertising policy at this link.