Whitman students rarely use lockers to actually store their belongings.  Instead, their doors are home to club flyers advertising upcoming SGA events.  But if students can cover the walls for free, could businesses place their own ads—for a price?

The trend of schools selling their available wall space to private companies is just emerging, but actual company advertisements should replace student attempts.  The St. Francis school district in Minneapolis is the nation’s first school system to sell advertising space on lockers and hallway walls.  Even though this advertising policy is in its pilot stage, the school district has discovered a valuable method of offsetting budget cuts.  In order to help solve Montgomery County’s budget deficit, MCPS should seriously consider allowing locker advertising.

The large vinyl ads are projected to bring more than $200,000 for each of the district’s five schools, according to St. Francis’ website.  This simple way to gain extra revenue could make the difference in maintaining a quality learning environment for all public schools, whether it’s through the purchase of new textbooks or staff training.

St. Francis schools regulate advertising on lockers with the help of School Media, a company that determines how much total space the ads can take up and which organizations may advertise in schools.  A similar practice could be implemented in Montgomery County, and on a larger scale.  A company that specializes in school advertising would also be able to judge what content is appropriate for students.

Some people fear the advertisements will cross the line in keeping private businesses out of the public domain.  Surrounded by the ads, opponents argue, students will be swayed by the messages and those companies who advertise will, therefore, influence the students’ everyday decisions.  But School Media allows only 20 percent of the available locker and wall space to be used for advertisements. Only companies promoting nutrition, fitness and learning are allowed to put up advertisements.

Whitman’s sports teams already have sponsors.  The Ledo’s Pizza banner, for example, is a regular feature on the fence at football games.  With advertisements already displayed on school property, the jump to featuring them in the hallways is a minimal and smart change.

It’s important to think of these businesses as “sponsors” rather than advertisers.  The money the school gains from the ads is more of a donation than an effort by the companies to infiltrate the school system.

Principal Alan Goodwin, while unopposed to the possibility of allowing locker advertisements, said implementing the policy would have to be a county-wide decision.  The profit from advertisements on lockers in MCPS middle and high schools would help individual schools maintain high-quality learning environments.

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