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Seattle parents buy an ad to protest ads

September 7, 2012 @ 2:09 am (Updated: 9:37 am - 9/7/12 )

Some parents and teachers are upset with the Seattle School District's new calendar. It's not the cost of the full-color calendar, which was mailed to the homes of almost 55,000 students and staff. It's the advertising they don't like.

Calendar

Seattle Public Schools calendar and family guide for the 2012-2013 school year is more visually interesting than calendars in the past, and includes more information such as phone numbers for the district's nearly 100 schools. The same information is available online. In the digital age, is there still a value to printing and mailing paper calendars?

In June, the school board voted to overturn a decade-old policy against commercial advertising. The district calendar features ads for Allstate Insurance, Comcast, driving schools, and the Stevens Pass ski area promoting their "5th graders ski free in February" program.

CalendarAdvertisementThere's also a small ad a group of citizens took out. They chipped in donations to cover the $1500 cost of a one-eighth page "protest ad."

The advertisement (left) asks families to contact the board and urge them to once again ban commercial advertising with the calendars and in schools.

"In my 29 years of teaching in Seattle, this is the first time I will not be hanging the calendar in my classroom," says second grade teacher Robert Femiano in a statement.

"I do not want students subconsciously thinking their teacher approves these products," he continues. "In my opinion, this subliminal coercion crosses the line of ethical behavior."

"Ads in schools create more problems than they solve. Education depends on the integrity of the educator. Allowing ads is a net loss," says Brita Butler Wall, past president of the Seattle School Board.

Other opponents say the board is selling access to students, and indirectly endorsing products.

Revenue earned from calendar sponsorship defrays the production costs. Without this money, the district says it would eventually have to stop publishing the calendar.

The costs Seattle Schools about $28,000 to print and $12,000 to mail the calendars.

By LINDA THOMAS

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Comments (11)


  • Add A Comment

  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    publics schools
    September 7, 2012 5:53 am
    nuf said
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hpygolkyone wrote...
    Hmmmmmm?.........
    September 7, 2012 6:30 am
    Well, I guess they now have a choice to make?

    Do they let the advertisements help defray the cost of publishing AND mailing the calendars to parents.........or do they stop publishing the calendar all together in order to kowtow to these self righteous individuals?

    The article talks about a calendar, but the ad these parents have placed seems to be more about the "overturning of the policy against commercial advertising in schools" in general.

    I understand the parents point (I wouldn't want to see ads plastered all over the school walls) but it seems like this calendar falls into a gray area. As a parent I use my calendar on a regular basis (not Seattle Schools), but as a student, I NEVER looked at that stupid thing all the way through high school!

    Let's get real for a minute......how many 2nd graders are going to the front of the classroom to look at the calendar to see when the end of the semester is so they can get missed assignments turned in and work on their extra credit projects to pick their GPA up?

    Here's my guess........ZERO.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    Hope Seattle Remembers this
    September 7, 2012 6:56 am
    When they go around to businesses looking for sponsorship Dollars.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    Is a McDonalds High School next ?
    September 7, 2012 7:16 am
    Of course with the funding McDonalds will insist ALL students and staff dress in McDonald uniforms and the Principal as Ronald McDonald and the Asst Principal as the Ham Burgler.Next town could have Pacer's High where all students must come to school as pole dancers,and don't forget Homesteads all you can eat Buffet middle school where kids under 200lbs don't meet the school standards. As the old saying goes There is no free lunch
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    $1500 cost for a one-eighth page ad?
    September 7, 2012 8:21 am
    Geez, how much did the calendar cost? I think the point here should be - Is it a necessary tool for learning or is it just a useless expenditure. Couldn't a calendar be more... appropriately scaled to their already strained budget?

    Kids have been wearing ads on their backs for as long as there have been sports teams. When I was in softball eons ago we had a local business plastered on our shirts. I can't even remember the name of it anymore. Our annual had ads. Our musicals had programs with ads. Our band trips had sponsors. When I think of how much crappy candy I had to hoc so we could have uniforms... So unless there was an ad for condoms or something I really have to wonder why parents are having a problem.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • TheNewsChick wrote...
    Cost of the calendars
    September 7, 2012 8:42 am
    Kata, the district tells me it costs about $28,000 to print and $12,000 to mail the calendars.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    yikes.
    September 7, 2012 9:01 am
    Four to 6 pages of ads - if they were consolidated - in a twelve or thirteen page calendar? I hope it folds into an origami hat or something useful when the year is up :) Thanks for answering my question.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SeattleNative wrote...
    Then I suppose this Robert Femiano...
    September 7, 2012 10:05 am
    ...doesn't allow GAP clothes in his classroom. Or Crayola crayons. Or Ticonderoga pencils. Or Nike shoes. Or Darigold milk.

    I'm also guessing that these parents who are complaining send their kids to school in plain unmarked burlap sacks.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • fartforce1 wrote...
    What did you expect? this is nothing, just the tip!
    September 7, 2012 10:07 am
    You want to privatize everything so this is what you get. Soon you will have charter school atheletes running around in Pepsi Jerseys. Get used to it republiCONS.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • kata wrote...
    lol what?
    September 7, 2012 10:30 am
    Yes private school hallways are just rife with commercial ad space. I have no idea how you got from A to B but you obviously enjoyed the trip.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • W900A wrote...
    Reset button
    September 7, 2012 11:01 am
    In this internet day and age, why can't this calender just be posted up on the schools website as a PDF. Cost would be a fraction. Of course the usual suspects think there is a republican conspiracy to take over their indoctrination centers.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
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