Saw this short blurb and found it hard to believe that the military is being allowed to put up ADVERTS in high schools.

The Madison School Board meeting draws dozens of protesters who object to the new U.S. Army advertisements at district high school stadiums and gyms. Although the protesters march outside of the Doyle Administration Building for more than an hour and make public comments to the board, the board cannot discuss the ads because it is not on the agenda.

I found some more articles about this.

Opinion.

Are you aware that Army recruiting advertisements have been placed in the gyms and on the football field scoreboards of all the Madison high schools? Accepting these military recruiting ads was a very bad idea for so many reasons.

Our schools spend 13 years helping students learn to resolve difficulties nonviolently. Advertising the Army runs counter to the school district's zero tolerance policies regarding violence and weapons. The district also has policies barring discrimination, while the U.S. military openly discriminates against gays and lesbians.

The Madison Metropolitan School District's own Policy 7541.3 states: "All military recruitment materials shall be appropriately labeled or identified and placed only in the Guidance Office." Large signs asking "Are You Army Strong? To find out, call ..." are certainly recruitment materials and have no place in the gyms or on scoreboards. In fact, the very placement of these ads takes advantage of the adolescent desire to prove oneself through physical challenge.

When the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice recently wrote to School Board members to ask them to reconsider this decision, we got this response from Lucy Mathiak: "The same paid advertising opportunities are available to peace organizations, an option that you may wish to consider in the future." It's outrageous to suggest that peace groups could ever compete with the military's annual recruitment budget, which exceeds $4 billion tax dollars (National Priorities Project). And it's ironic that we're now selling access to the students in order to have the resources to educate them.

Where should the army advertise/recruit? In the guidance office.

Students and parents say the army ads that appear on gym and stadium scoreboards at four Madison high schools look like recruiting material. About fifty protesters rallied outside the Doyle Administration building before Monday night's meeting, then went inside to urge the board to take the ads down. The ads read "Are you Army Strong?" and have a phone number to call for information. The district has separate policies outlining rules for both military recruitment and advertising. MMSD Board President Arlene Silveira says the ads met those conditions but some are not so sure.

Former Madison East Guidance Couselor Dave Hoppe says he is shocked to hear that the army ads are a part of district revenue and says students should not be directly targeted by the military in their daily classes.

"All materials should be in the guidance counselor's office and how they can figure out that gyms and football fields are the guidance office is absolutely beyond me," says Hoppe.

Hoppe also cites a rule laid out in the district's military recruitment policy that designates all military information be posted in school guidance offices.