Members of the WW-P district’s school board voted unanimously to adopt a set of regulations governing commercial activities and advertising.
The policy sets up various areas of commercial activity to be regulated: advertisements, sponsorships, and exclusive rights agreements. Officials did not include the district’s acceptance of gifts and the issue of naming rights, citing other policies handling those matters.
According to Larry Shanok, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance, the policy is a follow-up to the issue over installing lights at the high school athletic fields.
This past year, the board voted to give the West Windsor-Plainsboro Athletic Foundation the go-ahead to raise money to fund lighting for the playing fields at High Schools North and South. But residents in the neighborhoods surrounding the two school continued to voice opposition to the idea
A decision regarding the actual installation will come once the fundraising is complete, a cost analysis is done, and more financial information provided. At the time, board members said policies would need to be written to address the residents’ concerns and to set strict limits on field use once lights are installed. This is one of those policies.
Advertisements must fall into one of a number of categories: paid advertisements in a high school student newspaper or other district publication; instructional aids furnished by private sources (when the advertising is “reasonable, non-intrusive, and not inherent to the content”); signs or banners on athletic fields or gymnasiums; advertising in programs for district-sponsored or approved extracurricular activities; displays of product names on vending machines; advertisements that appear when students are using websites; and incidental advertisements pertaining to an organization that has been approved for use of a district facility, limited to the duration of that event and subject to other regulations.
The policy also states that “limited public-private capital improvement partnerships that will rely on advertising revenue must be limited in scope and approved by the board of education.”
With regard to sponsorships, the district states that sponsorship cannot require the district’s programs or services be delivered in a specific manner. When it comes to exclusive rights agreements, the board will be able to consider such an agreement if it is determined to be a substantial benefit to the district and students. However, any agreement will be capped at three years, or the maximum length of time allowed by state law — whichever is shorter.
However, included in the policy is a clause that is intended to “protect students from exploitation and to ensure that commercial activities do not interfere with the educational program.” Therefore, there are prohibitions.
First, nothing will be approved that is inconsistent with the district’s mission or its nondiscrimination policies. It also prohibits commercial activities that promote the sale or use of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, or illegal drugs or that contain inappropriate language. Also prohibited are activities that promote any religious organization, promote any political candidate, or a position on any referendum or political/legislative issue.
Nothing will be approved that does not comply with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations or bidding and purchasing procedures, and nothing will be approved that does not allow the board to terminate its approval at any time.
“Providing information about activities or events sponsored by non-profit organizations shall not be considered commercial activities and shall be permitted unless the activity or even is inconsistent with the mission and goals of the district.”
