Crete-Monee School District 201-U officials have signed a tentative agreement with American Bottling Co. that gives the company 10 years of exclusive access to school vending machines and concession stands in exchange for $400,000 and a portion of soft drink sales.
The agreement is the first of its kind involving a school district in the state, and it gives the bottler the right to place advertisements in school hallways, cafeterias and gyms. That arrangement makes some educators and children’s rights advocates jittery.
“Any educator who is serious about helping students would not even consider allowing kids to be a captive audience for advertisers,” said Marianne Manilov, head of the Oakland-based Center for Commercial Free Public Education. “When you stand back and look at these agreements, what you see is that we are willing to turn our schools over to marketers for peanuts.”
Under the agreement, a portion of which was unveiled during a school board meeting Monday night, the district will eliminate Coca-Cola and Pepsi from schools and administrative offices and replace them with American Bottling products, such as Dr Pepper, 7-Up, Royal Crown Cola, Snapple and Gatorade. In return, the company gives the district $40,000 a year for a decade and a 45 percent commission on all drinks sold.
The exact details of the Crete-Monee deal, including what type and amount of advertising will be allowed, were not clear. Neither Bob Shirley, of DD Marketing, the company that negotiated the deal, nor district Supt. Steve Humphrey would provide a copy of the tentative agreement, saying a final deal still has to be negotiated.
District workers plan to replace vending machines before schools open next week. The school board has 30 days to review the proposal before voting on it.
Humphrey said the agreement “is a revenue stream for us. Advertising is a minor part of it. Although this is tied to advertising, we are working to have the advertising educational in nature.”
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Regarding the length of the agreement, board member Donald Quick said, “Ten years is a long time. The market can change.”
He said he wants to ensure that the market price of the soft drinks is maintained and that the beverages do not become too expensive for students.
The agreement is expected to provide about $90,000 a year over the next decade for a cash-starved district that has sliced 60 staff positions, increased class sizes, eliminated some art, music, physical education and foreign language programs, and raised student fees by as much as 200 percent.
“We are elated with the deal,” Humphrey said. “This is a different and unique way of raising revenue for the district. We sell soft drink products in the schools anyway. Why not make money doing it?”
Should a final deal with the bottler be struck, Crete-Monee would join school districts in other states offering exclusive advertising access to their students in exchange for big money from soft drink firms.
In the last year, soft drink firms have promised millions of dollars to elementary and high schools in return for long-term, exclusive rights to market to students.
In Colorado Springs, Colo., for example, school administrators signed an $8 million deal involving Coke; in Grapevine, Texas, educators authorized a $3.4 million deal involving Dr Pepper and 7-Up.
Other Illinois districts might follow Crete-Monee’s lead. DD Marketing has been hired by school boards in Thornton, Carpentersville, Naperville and Aurora, according to Shirley.
Purists see the arrangements as another example of commercialism invading corridors of learning.
They say the incursion began in the late 1980s with Channel One Network, a service that provides schools with high-priced television equipment in exchange for airing specially produced news and advertising programs. Now, schools offer ad space to major corporations in return for goods the district otherwise could not afford.
But Humphrey said that under the agreement the district would not allow blatant advertisement of soft drink products.
“They will be advertisements in good taste, with educational themes,” he said.
For example, the district might allow a banner in a school hallway with the words “American Bottling Co. encourages you to study.” But an ad such as “Drink 7-Up” would be prohibited, Humphrey said.
“We are not pursuing greater advertising in our schools,” Humphrey said. “We are pursuing a contract that brings income into our district.
“The banner in the gym or the hallway is a side issue for us.”