Schools

Poll: Should Waterford Follow Stonington?

A Look At How A Nearby School District Handles Advertising

Over the last two years, , Waterford’s Board of Education has searched for different ways to generate revenue aside from taxing property owners. One method, which several board members are now pursuing,

Board Chairwoman Kathleen McCarty and board member have led a push to get companies to donate money to the district as a way to preserve programs . The two have also discussed allowing some advertising to pay for school programs, although so far the board has avoided changing its policy, which forbids it.

“We are going to see what is out there (as far as corporate donations go),” Superintendent Jerome Belair said. "Let's give them a chance to get it off the ground."

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If the board is unable to raise much money through donations, then there is a chance it could look at advertising, Belair said. If that happened, Waterford would follow Stonington, which went down that route for the same reason.

The Stonington Model

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Stonington, much like Waterford, has been faced with tight budgets, said Stonington Superintendent Leanne Masterjoseph, who used to work in Waterford. In response, the Stonington Board of Education passed a new policy that allowed limited advertising, without turning Stonington High School into a “Las Vegas-like environment,” she said.  

“Our philosophy was to get much more creative generating revenue,” she said.

Since the policy passed, the town decided to use advertising to help pay for a new football scoreboard for Stonington High School, Masterjoseph said. The town hired the company Side Effects Inc. help them find sponsors for the scoreboard. Side Effects works on commission from the revenue generated.

Side Effects and the District found enough sponsors, such as Lawrence & Memorial Hospital and the Mystic Aquarium, to generate $14,000 annual net revenue to Stonington, Masterjoseph said. , according to Stonington Patch.

There was an issue, however, as the scoreboard did not meet zoning regulations, Masterjoseph said. Stonington’s Planning and Zoning Commission, after three meetings, agreed to , according to Stonington Patch.

Also, the board originally wanted to install a McDonald's sign on the press box, , according to Stonington Patch.

“We had a learning curve on this,” Masterjoseph said. “But the groups came together to find solutions.”

Waterford

McCarty said Monday the board was going to see if corporations would be willing to donate to the district without advertising. But if they do want some advertisement, that could be considered, she said.

“We'll approach it first by asking, and then find out what is really out there,” she said. “We need to see what these corporations are looking for.”

McCarty said she would find out that answer as soon as possible. These are the conversations Waterford needs to have right now, she said.

“These are not easy times for us,” McCarty said. “We promise to do this and we are absolutely committed to doing this. It might us take us awhile, but I don’t want to say it is an impossibility until we tried.”


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