New York City middle and high school students will be receiving free planners next school year courtesy of corporate sponsors, under a new city Department of Education plan.
The department is seeking proposals from companies that can produce and distribute the student planners — books in which students can take notes on class schedules and assignments — selling advertisements to fund their production and sharing revenue with the department. The Chancellor’s Committee for Approval of School Advertisements will be tasked with ensuring that advertisements in planner are age-appropriate and not on its list of banned products.
Snapple juices for sale in a controversial vending-machine deal with city schools. The beverage company also sponsored student planners — freebie calendars now being revived by the Department of Education. Photo: Lux Alpatraum/Flickr
Banned items include tobacco products, alcohol, blood sports like professional boxing and wrestling, condoms and other birth control devices, ideological and political messages, cheating and paper writing services, and non-nutritious foods.
Pre-approved advertising categories include apparel, healthy foods, cars, oral hygiene and first aid products, G-rated movies, music, hotels, airlines and insurance.
Parents outside of The Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science, & Engineering in Morningside Heights offered mixed views on the proposal.
“I don’t see a problem with it,” said Jennifer Pasb of Washington Heights. “We had to buy our own this year. The teachers just kept saying how important it was for them to have.”
Darrell Alston, a parent from the Bronx, was more critical. “It’s like they are selling them out to the advertisers,” he said. “I just hope that we are going to see the money from this in our school.”
The Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment.
This is not the first time that the department has sought to contract with an outside firm to provide free planners. Quality Planners of Hicksville, Long Island, provided planners during the 2003-’04 and 2004-’05 school years. Advertisers then included Citibank, Dunkin’ Donuts, Teen Vogue, Garnier Fructus, Ecko, Snapple and the Princeton Review, as well as higher-ed institutions like Suffolk University and Touro College.
The department expects the approved company to hand out 450,000 free planners by the first week of school next year to participating middle and high schools.
The books will include tips on how to take notes, a message from the Chancellor, a multicultural calendar and reference information on math, science, history and grammar.
