EDUCATION

Digital billboards put ads in front of students. Are they harvesting personal info, too?

Anne Ryman
The Republic | azcentral.com
Cooper Hedger has started a petition against advertising boards aimed at students, like this one at Perry High in Chandler, Ariz. February 13, 2018. SkoolLive is a communication network in Chandler Unified School District high schools.

When Perry High School in Gilbert installed 7-foot-tall kiosks with digital screens on campus last year, it joined more than 160 schools that use the technology across the country.  

The electronic screens could display information about school events, a kind of digital billboard. And they were free. A California company called SkoolLive provides the boards, because in addition to school information, the screens run ads. SkoolLive gets the ad revenue and even gives the school a cut of the profits. 

But just weeks into the school year, words appeared on the digital screens that have no place in schools. 

Alongside the profile names of real students, a handful of vulgar names had been uploaded into the system, according to screen shots taken by a Perry High School student. They had derogatory first or last names, like “Monkey (expletive)," a slang term for a hot mom and words that refer to old racial segregation laws.   One fake profile contained a photo of a marijuana bud with the words "Light Up" under the image. 

Whether it was a prank — or whether it was done purposely to draw attention to commercialism in schools — is up for debate. But the incident has drawn the attention of school privacy advocates and anti-commercial groups, who have renewed their calls to see the digital screens banned from public schools. 

Concerns about privacy, hacking, ads 

Critics have expressed three concerns:

  • The digital screens are pushing more ads on students in areas of the school that previously were free of commercials.
  • The system allowed pranksters to insert dirty language unchecked.
  • And the use of ads that allow students to enter their phone numbers into the kiosk gives advertisers, including the military, their contact information. 

The company bills the technology as a way for schools to bring in money and "lift the fundraising burden," but company officials wouldn't disclose to The Arizona Republic what their typical financial arrangement — that cut of the ad revenue — is with schools. 

Kids see enough advertising during the day, and schools should be one place that is free of ads, said David Monahan, campaign manager for the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. 

"This company, SkoolLive, is putting electronic billboards in the school hallway. It boasts it can position brands in front of a captive student audience daily. That, I think, tells you everything you need to know about the motive," he said.

A company official said inappropriate names that appeared were an isolated incident and that a Perry High School student was responsible.

The objectionable content has since been removed, said George Bruton, SkoolLive founder and CEO, and the mobile app that allowed students to upload profile names into the system is no longer connected to SkoolLive screens.

“That can’t happen anymore. It shouldn’t have happened in the first place,” Bruton said. 

Allowing advertising in schools is not new as school districts look for more ways to bring in money. It's common to see ads in school newspapers or on banners at athletic fields, and Arizona is one of 10 states that allow ads on school buses. 

For years, however, school hallways have been considered sacrosanct when it comes to permanent advertising. SkoolLive screens change this because they hang on the walls, inside the school, in high-traffic areas. 

SkoolLive technology is in 13 states and more than 160 schools, according to the company's website.

What is SkoolLive?

SkoolLive kiosks look like flat-screen TVs turned sideways. The 60-inch screen features ads on the top and bottom. The center of the screen is reserved for school-sponsored events such as upcoming games, student-council elections or fundraisers at local restaurants.

SkoolLive chooses the ads, which are provided to the district for approval. The company pledges not to display any promotional content that is inappropriate, illegal, violent, offensive, politically incorrect or sexually explicit. 

The touchscreens let students interact with the kiosks, allowing them to see photos of sporting events from other schools in the SkoolLive network. They can also check out advertising deals. 

"It’s basically just taking schools out of the analog age when they communicated with large paper posters and keeps them green. That’s really it," said Bruton, the company CEO. 

The company's website said the technology is in 13 states and more than 162 schools, potentially reaching more than 287,000 students. 

The website touts the SkoolLive network as being the "largest digital, out-of home footprint for Generation Z in the USA."

Potential advertisers are told that they can support local schools while also speaking to their target audience.

SkoolLive did not respond to a question about how many Arizona schools use the technology. 

According to the company's Facebook page, the Yuma Union High School District installed screens in 2017 as did high schools in the Chandler Unified School District. 

Digital information boards

Cactus Shadows High School in Cave Creek has had SkoolLive for the past three years. The four screens are in the hallway near the front of the school, in the cafeteria, outside the main gym and in the library entryway. 

The technology was billed as a way to bring in money so that school groups wouldn't have to do as much fundraising, Cactus Shadows Principal Steve Bebee said. 

He said he's probably received less than $1,000 since the screens were installed, a return that he finds underwhelming. 

He has thought about pulling the plug. 

School boards in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, and Okeechobee, Florida voted against installing the digital screens in 2015.

"The only reason I still have them and tolerate them is because my student council can advertise and put their own things on the kiosks. I use them as digital information boards," he said. 

On a recent Friday, an ad for a local coffee shop flashes on the screen. It is followed about 10 seconds later by an ad for a boutique selling handmade gifts. Students are encouraged to “follow SkoolLive” on Instagram and add the company on Snapchat.

The screen doesn't appear to promote any school-related events on this day. 

Bruton, the company's CEO, said the amount a school makes varies by school. Some generate "thousands of dollars per quarter by having the product," he said.

"If the local community is very active, that one does better than not," he said. "It has to do with if the local businesses continue to spend the money."

Bebee said students like the screens because they're able to keep up to date with campus events. He said he has not received any feedback — either positive or negative — from parents. 

A distraction for students?  

Nationally, the SkoolLive screens appear to have received largely positive press. The screens are touted as a sort of "gee-whiz" technology, a modern way for cash-strapped school districts to bring in money. 

Some schools, though, have passed on the digital boards. School boards in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, and Okeechobee, Florida, voted against signing agreements with SkoolLive in 2015. Some board members worried the ads would be a distraction for students. Others saw little financial gain in exchange for running ads. 

Some school districts, like Chandler Unified, have left the decision up to the high schools, not the school board, with a district official signing the contract with SkoolLive. 

Perry High School in Gilbert installed the technology last year after teachers heard about the screens at a student government convention. 

The school uses its three digital screens to promote school events such as spirit days, dance concerts and tryouts for sports teams. 

Lerina Johnson, the student council adviser, said the digital screens are a great complement to the student council's Twitter and Instagram accounts, she said. 

"We’re trying so hard to make sure we communicate all of our activities to the students. Not all listen to the announcements. This is perfect. It's all on a kiosk," she said. 

They haven't been a big money-maker yet. 

An example of a promo for a school event that ran on the SkoolLive digital screens at Perry High School.

So far, the school has earned a quarterly payment of $65, she said, although she anticipates that amount will double for the next quarter. She said students are excited about the technology.

But not everyone at the school is a fan. 

Activism or prank?

Cooper Hedger, an 18-year-old senior at Perry, said he first saw the digital screens last July during senior year orientation. 

He was intrigued by the technology so he began researching what SkoolLive was.

"Cooper is one of those kids who will delve into something ad nauseam," said his mother, Diane Hedger. 

He started asking questions about who had approved the kiosks and said he got vague answers. This made him more curious.

"It was originally a really simple question," he said. "But no one knew the answer."

Cooper Hedger has started a petition against advertising boards aimed at students at Perry High School in Gilbert, Arizona.

He found out that digital screens were in other Chandler high schools and obtained a copy of the contract between between SkoolLive and the school district dated April 2016, which outlines an agreement whereby SkoolLive gets 80 percent of profits and the district receives 20 percent — that is, not a portion of the revenue, just a portion of the profit. 

In late August, Hedger said he noticed that some of the student profiles and pictures displayed on SkoolLive screens were vulgar and not appropriate for school.

Hedger shared screen shots of the inappropriate profiles with Pat Elder, director of the National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy. The non-profit group opposes the automatic release of student information from high schools to military recruiting services.

Elder published information about the Perry High School incident on his website in late January. 

The group calls SkoolLive "an interactive digital invasion of our high schools by corporations and the military." 

He has been a critic of SkoolLive because of the company's use of ads that allow students to enter their phone numbers into the kiosk, which essentially gives the advertiser their contact information.

Elder believes this method of outreach to students may circumvent a federal law that allows parents of high schoolers to "opt out" of having schools automatically provide the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all high school students to military recruiters. 

Bruton, the company CEO, said the U.S. Army and Marine Corps advertise with SkoolLive. The information that SkoolLive's clients ask for is the same that is requested of students when schools have college fairs on campus and when military recruiters visit schools, he said.

Company officials follow federal student-privacy laws and "we don't even come close to the line of being gray," he said. 

SkoolLive CEO: We're a communication tool

Bruton said additional safeguards have been put in place since the vulgarity incident at Perry High School. 

After the incident, "the school and us are the only ones who can send things to the kiosk," Bruton said. 

Regarding the calls to ban the technology, Bruton said it's unfair to attack SkoolLive as something that is corrupting students. 

"We’re just a communication tool, and we have an opportunity for schools to leverage that if they choose to. That’s the school’s choice to do that," he said. 

Hedger, meanwhile, is continuing his crusade to get SkoolLive off campus. He launched an online petition at change.org, asking the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board to take up the issue and remove the screens. 

"I’m hoping the school board will look into it," he said, "and realize it's not appropriate to have." 

Reach the reporter at 602-444-8072 or anne.ryman@arizonarepublic.com.

READ MORE:

Chandler principal: No school punishment for students over racist video on social media

People don't talk about periods. A Phoenix woman says girls deserve better

Scottsdale schools' official cites 'personal threats and attacks' in resignation letter