teach1st
08-10-2005, 04:40 AM
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/12344162.htm
Possibly coming soon to a school bus near you: advertising.
Joining its neighbors in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, the Broward County school district is exploring the idea of posting banner ads in its more than 1,000 school buses.
Cash-strapped districts in states including Florida, Tennessee, Texas, New York, California and Colorado have turned to their buses for profit, though not without raising some hackles.
''We should teach kids to read and write and add and think, not to shop,'' said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a nonprofit anti-commercialism group based in Portland, Ore. ``It's the job of school officials to protect kids from that voracious commercial culture.''
At a workshop Tuesday, Broward School Board members agreed they want the money that school bus ads would bring, but debated how far such advertising should go.
''I'm very reluctant to go into full-scale advertising,'' said board member Maureen Dinnen.
She said that while she has no problem with an ad that encourages a child to drink orange juice, ``I have a problem advertising Minute Maid as opposed to Donald Duck.''
Most board members were more comfortable with the idea of using public service messages such as ''Be Healthy and Exercise'' or ''Eat Cheese'' and showing a sponsor's logo at the bottom than directly advertising Nikes or Velveeta.
Read more (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/12344162.htm)
Possibly coming soon to a school bus near you: advertising.
Joining its neighbors in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, the Broward County school district is exploring the idea of posting banner ads in its more than 1,000 school buses.
Cash-strapped districts in states including Florida, Tennessee, Texas, New York, California and Colorado have turned to their buses for profit, though not without raising some hackles.
''We should teach kids to read and write and add and think, not to shop,'' said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a nonprofit anti-commercialism group based in Portland, Ore. ``It's the job of school officials to protect kids from that voracious commercial culture.''
At a workshop Tuesday, Broward School Board members agreed they want the money that school bus ads would bring, but debated how far such advertising should go.
''I'm very reluctant to go into full-scale advertising,'' said board member Maureen Dinnen.
She said that while she has no problem with an ad that encourages a child to drink orange juice, ``I have a problem advertising Minute Maid as opposed to Donald Duck.''
Most board members were more comfortable with the idea of using public service messages such as ''Be Healthy and Exercise'' or ''Eat Cheese'' and showing a sponsor's logo at the bottom than directly advertising Nikes or Velveeta.
Read more (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/12344162.htm)