HBI

Dalton Walker
dwalker@harrisburginfo.com

February 08. 2010 6:00AM

The Harrisburg School District now has the option to post outside ads on a part of the school’s Web site, perhaps a first for any school district in the state.

The Harrisburg School Board approved an Internet advertising policy in late January after weeks of discussion and fine-tuning, Superintendent Jim Holbeck said.

However, because of a policy by the South Dakota Department of Education, the ads on Harrisburg’s site are limited to the district’s calendar page.

The Department of Education, which hosts Harrisburg’s site and other South Dakota school district Web sites, has a policy that does not allow advertising of any kind.

Although Harrisburg’s calendar page is easily accessible from the site’s main page – www.harrisburg.k12.sd.us – it does not fall into the department’ category because the district owns that specific page, Holbeck said.

School districts across South Dakota connect to the state server as a cost saver, said Wade Pogany of the Department of Education.

Pogany said he is not aware of a state list of school districts that advertise on their own private pages.

“We have a specific policy that says sites can’t solicitate for or have commercial advertising materials because it is hosted by the state,” Pogany said.

The Sioux Falls School District does not have any sites that display ads, and doesn’t plan to do so, said Ben Shumacher, communication specialist with the school district.

“Even if there wasn’t state control, that was something we decided against,” he said.

After speaking with other districts and doing his own research, Holbeck said Harrisburg is “breaking new ground” because no other school district in the state has an online advertising policy in place.

Harrisburg’s calendar page is the lone district page not running on the state’s server, Holbeck said. The page is a simple calendar with information posted on specific dates related to Harrisburg activities.

At least one Harrisburg parent is concerned about the advertising policy.

Jennifer McNamara, who has a daughter at one of Harrisburg’s three elementary schools, said she was worried that it might send the wrong message to students.

“If no other district is doing it, why are we selling our kids out?” McNamara said. “Are we that desperately in need of money? As a parent, I don’t feel comfortable that our school district made a decision to sell ad space.”

Advertising on the school Web site was first brought up by school booster club Tiger Nation. Members said businesses would ask about advertising on the school’s site as the group did its own fundraising.

Holbeck said soon after that he felt the district needed a policy in place for any future reference.

No other entity has yet to show any interest in advertising on the school’s calendar page, Holbeck said.

The superintendent’s office has final approval over any ad. However, if an ad is deemed controversial it will be put in front of the school board, Holbeck said.

The board also has the right to wave any fees for school-related organizations such as the student council or a booster club, according to the policy.

The district has yet to set an ad rate and will work on a case-by-case basis, Holbeck said. Any money made from an ad sale will go into the district’s general fund.

“We’ll see,” Holbeck said of the ad cost. “We will try to create what market demands.”