Dear George,

In answer to your inquiry about advertising in the Albemarle County Public Schools, here is the related School Board policy from our Policy Manual:

KJ Page 1
Albemarle County Public Schools

ADVERTISING IN THE SCHOOLS

In general, the Board disapproves of commercialism within the public schools. However, the Board recognizes and approves of the use of materials developed by commercial organizations when, in the judgment of the Superintendent, the educational value of the materials to be used far outweighs their commercialism, when the advertising is in good taste, and when the materials used are not available elsewhere at a reasonable cost. In those schools in which objects of a commercial nature have been used, these objects shall be phased out and shall not be replaced with items promoting
commercial interests. The School Board will consider paying for the replacement of necessary items. The purpose of this directive is to eliminate commercialism in the schools.

Adopted: July 1, 1993

This policy is on line at: http://k12.albemarle.org/Board/Policies/KJ.pdf.

There is also another policy that mentions advertising:

DJG Page 1
Albemarle County Public Schools

VENDOR RELATIONS

The School Board recognizes the value of the staff's being informed of the latest commercial materials available to assist in their teaching and welcomes competent representatives of such publishers and manufacturers. However, the Board does not want classroom teachers distracted from their duties or undue administrative time taken from previously assigned duties. No vendor, agent, or sales representative may enter the schools to advertise or sell goods or services to employees or students unless specifically stated in the regulations portion of this policy. Any person/persons found soliciting goods or services to students and employees in the schools or on school property during school hours will be subject to legal
action.

Adopted: July 1, 1993

Legal Refs.: Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended, Sections 22.1-78, 22.1-293 (B-D) 11-75, 11-76, 11-77, 11-78

This policy is on line at: http://k12.albemarle.org/Board/Policies/DJG.pdf.

At this time, I don't have a personal opinion to express on this topic. Of course, students can pick up magazines and newspapers in school libraries and view all sorts of advertising and also view banner advertising on websites while using school computers. Viewing the magazine and newspaper advertising seems to be more by choice by students, and they can quickly turn the page or look away from the ad if they don't want to view it.

I guess it's somewhat similar for the website banner ads, but if there's information on a particular page the student wants to study, then the advertising would be in view for as long as the student views the page (unless the graphics were turned off). In another case, if "forced" to watch Channel One, for example, a student would have to consciously close his/her eyes and ears for the timeframe of the videographic commercial in order to avoid it and wait for the news content to reappear.

The issue of whether schools should provide advertising space on sports scoreboards in exchange for the scoreboards themselves might be an interesting topic. I'd bet there are probably other areas of concern on this topic.

Respectfully,

Gary Grant ( electronic mail, May 31, 2001)