Cast of characters:
Dr. Steve Chestnut, Superintendent
Kyle Ryan, Skoollive salesman
Mrs. Torri Anderson, Governing Board member (the only Board member asking questions about Skoollive)
Mrs. Krista Barrett, Maricopa High School Assistant Principal
Mrs. Bernadette Russoniello (a teacher or staff person at Maricopa High School)
From the minutes of the MARICOPA UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 20 Governing Board meeting on March 25, 2015.
Kiosk System
Dr. Chestnut introduced Mr. Kyle Ryan from SkoolLive to present the SkoolLive digital kiosks that can be installed at MHS and answer any questions. Mr. Ryan explained that SkoolLive installs digital kiosks on school campuses which provide on campus communication in a more eco-friendly way, provides a way for the school to generate revenue and also provide the school cost savings by saving money on not having to produce or purchase flyers, posters and supplies for communication. Mr. Ryan presented an example of what the digital kiosks looks like and explained the middle 50% of the screen would be dedicated to MHS’s communication to its students, staff, and parents and how it can be customized. Mr. Ryan further explained the top 25% and bottom 25% of the screen would be school approved advertisements. Mr. Ryan clarified that the digital kiosks are free and do not cost the District any money. SkoolLive makes their money through sponsorships that SkoolLive presents to the school for approval to display on the digital kiosks. Mr. Ryan says a percentage of the revenue that SkoolLive brings in from the sponsorship is given to the school which is approximately $200-$500 per month per digital kiosk. Mr. Ryan says an example of a sponsor they work with is Pima Community College where they advertise their programs interactively where students can retrieve class information and submit information from the digital kiosk. Mr. Ryan assured that there is no financial liability to the school or District if damage to the digital kiosks occurred, SkoolLive will replace and/or repair the unit(s).
Mrs. Anderson questioned who approves the sponsorship content that gets displayed on the digital kiosks. Mrs. Krista Barrett, MHS Assistant Principal answered Mrs. Bernadette Russoniello would review the sponsorship ads and if there are any concerns they would be forwarded to Mrs. Barrett. Mrs. Anderson questioned where the revenue that is generated from these digital kiosks would go and Dr. Chestnut responded they would go into the MHS Student Council funds. Mrs. Anderson questioned where in the high school the digital kiosks will be located. Mrs. Barrett answered they would be in the lobbies of the 100 building (upstairs and downstairs), 200 building, 800 building, cafeteria, and main office. President Coutré suggested having more units in the cafeteria rather than in the other buildings. Mrs. Barrett responded that is a possibility as long as there is power for the additional units in the cafeteria. Mrs. Anderson questioned if the school has enough bandwidth for the addition of these digital kiosks at the high school and Mrs. Barrett answered the only time the digital kiosks would be running off of the internet would be at night time after school for the updates and there would be enough bandwidth for that. Mrs. Anderson questioned what the high school site council and parent’s reactions have been to having the digital kiosks on campus. Mrs. Barrett answered the high school does not currently have a site council that is functioning so it has not gone through site council and they have not had the opportunity to show this to parents but can provide the information to parents and invite them to review the information and video that Mr. Ryan has created on you-tube. Dr. Chestnut suggested sending out the you-tube video via a Connect-Ed message asking parents to review and provide comments back prior to the next board meeting if possible.
Mr. Ryan added that the school can customize what content is on each individual digital kiosk and how much and how little interactive capabilities each one would have.
From Jim Metrock: Skoollive is pulling numbers out of the air when they tell this school board that each kiosk will generate $200-$500 per month per kiosk. According to the minutes there will be at least 6 billboards/kiosks in the Maricopa High School. Using the lowest figure Skoollive is dangling before the Governing Board this one school is looking at $1,200 per month X 9 months of school = $10,800 per year from Skoollive. That is fantastic! What a simple way for a school to raise money. If it was only true – or doable.
Skoollive has no significant history of ad revenue to base any projection. Hopefully this Governing Board will follow Board member Torri Anderson’s example and start asking a lot of hard questions of the Skoollive sales people. No school that is serious about educating their students needs electronic, talking billboards in their school buildings.
