On 3/10/10, Phil Tanny wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Quick intro: I have a BA in Special Education, but left the
> field years ago to go in to business for myself.
>
> I'm writing to request your feedback on an idea for
> generating new revenue for schools, by helping schools go
> in to business for themselves. This is rough, a first
> draft, can you help me perfect or discard this proposal?
>
> In these times of budget crisis...
>
> Imagine a high school that reinvents itself, as a
> publishing company. The end product of many school projects
> would be to create content for the school website.
>
> Examples:
>
> - If a class studies the civil war, the end product of
> those studies should be civil war articles for the school
> website.
>
> - When students learn French, they then teach it to others
> on the school website.
>
> - When the basketball team plays a game, the game is filmed
> for the school website.
>
> - A forum that creates lots of content for search engines,
> and connects the high school to the community.
>
> And so on...
>
> The high school has 1,000 students. These are the
> reporters. The school has 75 teachers, the editors.
>
> Imagine an online publishing venture that has 1,000
> reporters, and 75 editors, and years to build it's website.
> Consider the kind of income an online enterprise of that
> scale could generate.
>
> A business oriented high school website could....
>
> - Provide a remedy for budget cuts. And relief for
> taxpayers.
>
> - Connect students to the community, and the community to
> the school.
>
> - Give the students real world work to do, making education
> more meaningful to them.
>
> - Teach the students skills they can make a living with
> upon graduation.
>
> Most high schools have a website, but few probably take it
> seriously, and view it as an income generating business.
>
> What say you?
>
> Could the right schools make this work in some form or
> another?
>
> Thanks!

I do not see the potential for profit. Who would pay to access
the news stories when the local paper probably already has a
free online story about each game? Who would pay to have a
student teach them a foreign language? The transaction amounts
would have to be little and would not add up to much. The only
way I could see any profit potential would be through ad
placement. In addition, this type of project would require a
colossal investment of time and effort. I don't see it as a
feasible project. Sorry.

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