School District Considers Two More Advertisement Concepts

business manager Michael Braun presented the March 20 Budget and Finance Committee with a couple of novel concepts that may help bring in revenue to the district.

“We took an opportunity with the bus advertising,” Braun said. “I’m trying to take it to the next level.”

After the school board’s recent approval to allow a Leigh County company to provide restricted advertising on its busses, Braun presented two more alternative advertising options.

Website Advertising

The first concept deals with providing advertising space on the district’s website. He provided examples of “rolling card” advertisements that appear on a school district’s website in Florida. This particular advertising consisted of square spaces throughout the web page, in which scrolled through a number of businesses’ ads. 

“The thing I really like about this, is that they have a Paypal system,” Braun said, meaning that advertisements can be approved at the click of a button.

Braun added that any advertisements would have to go through a series of approvals, starting with the superintendent.

Braun said that this type of advertising would likely not cost the district anything, but would require a restructuring of the district’s server to accommodate the ad space.

According to district superintendent, Dr. Robert Milrod, the district’s contract with its outside web platform provider is approaching renewal. Should the district choose to update its servers for the online advertising, the service costs with its website platform provider may increase.

Braun said that most of the district’s intranet systems, including programs that keep track of student accounting and human resources, are based in servers outside the school district. According to school board member Duval Dougherty, who has a background in systems analysis, the district may also want to consider having its website servers located offsite, as it may be more cost-effective in the long run to do so.

School Media

The second option may, quite literally, paint Upper Moreland school lockers with advertisements.

“What you’re looking at is a bank of lockers, but you wouldn’t know they’re lockers,” Braun said.

Braun presented the committee with several news articles concerning other school districts’ use of school-property surfaces as advertising space.

As reported by NBC 10, Bucks County’s Pennsbury School District’s Edgewood Elementary School, allowed the company School Media to place such large advertising in its school hallways and lockers. The report said that the ads may generate nearly $400,000 in revenues for that district.

Braun, in his presentation, also cited School Media as a company to look into for this type of advertising. He said the advertising would need strict approval of district administrators, as well as be more education-focused.

Aside from revenues generated from these ads, Braun also noted that the ads would help upkeep locker facades, and could be easily removed.

“These are different ways that we can get different revenues,” Braun said. “The question is, how much advertising do you want to put your kids with over periods of time?”

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Below you'll find a Patch poll asking if you think the district should consider in-school advertising. You can also explain your position in the comments section.

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