School choice is a topic I've been interested in for some time, certainly since school consolidation was mandated in Arkansas in the early aughts. I wrote about it here in 2012. During a recent visit to Arkansas for the April eclipse, I saw the electronic billboards at schools in Cotter and Bee Branch touting their schools in that context--that is, they were recruiting students. As I observed back in 2012, I find this curious given that rural students typically already must travel inconvenient distances to get to the nearest school, so it's always struck me as unlikely that students (and their parents) would choose to travel greater distances to a neighboring school district.
More recently, "school choice" is back in the news because of the proliferation of voucher programs that permit parents to use public tax money to send their children to private schools, including religious ones. The Washington Post ran a big feature on the topic a few days ago.
Now, I see in my hometown Newton County Times (May 8, 2024 issue; no link is available on the newspaper's website) that the tiny Deer/Mt. Judea School District there is engaged in an advertisement streaming campaign to reach prospective students who might choose the school. Deer/Mt Judea is perennially on the verge of closure due to falling below the enrollment threshold. (That was the topic of this 2011 post) The school board engaged A4 Advertising, a "national advertising and data company that provides audience-based multiscreen advertising solutions." The company is targeting only households with children aged 4 to 18. The ad executive, Tonda Mixon, proposed sending ads about the school's "latest curriculum of drone technology, cave exploration and study as well as its more established distance learning program to designated households within a 50-mile radius of the school district."
At the April 25 board meeting, the board got data about the 15-second and 30-second commericals that have been running on YouTube. The ads have been streamed 48,000 times, and the VCR (Video Completion Rate is 96% and 97%). The ads are not skippable, which lends to a higher VCR rate, though viewers could still click away from the website when they see the ad come up. Most of the advertisements are being viewed on television sets rahte rhtan on computers and tablets, Mixon reported.
The superintendent said the school is now looking at doing "some Facebook advertising and boosting to generate about 27,000 additional views." The board will decide over the next few months how hard it wants to push the different ads. The school board president said he expects to see the fruits of the advertising effort in six to eight months. The story reports that "Patrons of the school district voiced their concerns that the school board wasn't doing enough to promote the schools and raise the district's enrollment numbers."
The story explains that the "drone technology and caving programs were recently added to the district's curriculum based on student interest. The school district pioneered digital learning prior to the COVID-19 pandemic when schools suddenly had to initiate distance learning programs for their stay-at-home students. That reduced the number of students enrolled in Deer-Mt. Judea's program. However, schools have begun to abandon distance learning in favor of returning to tradition in-person teaching. The school district's digital program has rebounded and recently the program's director said all of the existing student slots were full."
In other business, the school board authorized the purchase of 300 Chromebooks for $96,528, which will come from federal funds. Currently, the school has "stacks of expired units," an apparent reference to the fact they "can be updated only so often." It was reported that two or three of the Chromebooks are turned in each day for repair. After gathering three bids for the purchase, the school negotiated to get the devices for less than $300/each.
In other front page news from the May 8, 2024 issue were these headlines:
- Senate approves new regulations for crypto mining (republishing a press release from the Arkansas Senate)
- Administrative office of the Courts delivers naloxone kits (several employees of the administrative office of the court, a circuit judge, and drug court personnel are pictured with the story)
- Despite bad weather Career and Info Fair reigns in Bradley Park. An accompanying photos features two employees of the Newton County Sheriff's Office, the jail administrator and a deputy. a jailer position is currently open. Health insurance benefits are included.
- Waterfall tour May 11. This Spring Waterfall Chasing Back Road Tour is sponsored by Jasper Advertising and Promotion Commission, and the cost is $50/vehicle.
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