Ricoh Proposal Analysis

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Channel 15

Have you ever watched our public school local access channel 15? If you have never viewed this channel it is mostly slides, set to music, of old information and photos of a few things that have happened in some of the schools. Talk about an underutilized marketing tool. When I have inquired as to why this channel does not have up to date student centered content the response is who will do it. How about our AV guy that creates the presentations for the administrators to present at board meetings. Or perhaps the new communications specialist the superintendent hired at a tune of 24 thousand dollars a year as a part time employee. This channel could be used to feature what the students are doing in this district. I suggest with the help of tech savvy students, parents and the PTA that every school create video vignettes of events that take place throughout the district. Nothing fancy just a video recording of a concert or science fair or a myriad of things that happen in our schools daily. Kids get a kick out of seeing themselves on the tube and I think it would help build school spirit. Why not block time on channel 15 devoted to high school students creating original programing? I have seen videos of the Stevenson football team at board meetings, lets feature our outstanding artists throughout the district as well with performances on channel 15. I have asked if I could read a children's book once a month. This could be expanded to include guest readers from the community at large. I am sure there are capable high school students that as aspiring journalist would love to follow our students to science competitions and other school sponsored events and produce programing for broadcast. What about the career technical center? This is just the sort of project they would excel at. The ideas are endless as to what could fill a 24 hour channel. Instead of investing time and energy in gimmicks like the competitive edge to market this district lets showcase our greatest assets , our students.

Competitive Edge

Reading the summary of the first candidate forum I was curious about Tom Baileys comment concerning the districts latest deception, the competitive edge. He described the program as a partially funded college scholarship. This program is being hyped in all of the districts mailings and talked up at PTA meetings as well. In some of these publications it has been mentioned in the same paragraph as the Kalamazoo Promise which would understandably give the reader the impression that the two programs have something in common. For the uninitiated the Kalamazoo Promise pays for the Michigan college education of students that attend and graduate from a public school in Kalamazoo. It is underwritten by anonymous donors to the tune of 250 million dollars and provides full tuition for 4 years. The Competitive Edge contributes 100 dollars to your aspiring college student if you attend LPS form first to twelfth grade. This will not buy a single text book. To give the impression that this program is funding a college education is very misleading and shows the desperation in trying to bring back the over 1,200 students that we have lost since the Legacy debacle..