Father sues Oregon school district to expel Channel One

Fri, 18 Apr 2003 09:14:27 -0700

--------------BAE64D7B0BA9BB4E529B207F
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Commercial Alert, April 18, 2003

An Oregon parent filed a complaint in an Oregon circuit court yesterday,
contending that the Salem-Keizer School District is violating the Oregon
State Constitution by forcing his son and daughter to watch commercial
advertising in school.  Specifically, the complaint challenges the
school district’s contract with Channel One, a company that uses the
schools to advertise to captive audiences of about 8 million children in
about 12,000 schools nationwide.

Attorneys Mark McDougal and Linda Williams assert in the complaint that
Channel One has commandeered about one full week of school time each
school year.

News articles about the complaint are at:
http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=60131
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1050667458318260.xml

http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/oregon/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?o0114_BC_OR--ChannelOne-Suit&&news&ornews

The parent, Gary Boyes, who lives in Keizer, Oregon, filed the case in
the Marion County Circuit Court.  Both his daughter, Shanna Boyes, and
son Gary Boyes, attend schools that use Channel One, Walker Middle
School and North Salem High School, respectively.

“Channel One has turned my children’s schools into amphitheaters of
commercial advertising for junk food and crass entertainment,” said Gary
Boyes.  “It’s time for that to end.”

“Channel One is a waste of precious school time,” said Gary Ruskin,
executive director of Commercial Alert.  “It exists for one purpose --
to deliver a captive audience of impressionable schoolchildren to
corporate advertisers.  Surely schools can put that time to more
productive uses -- such as teaching and active learning.”

Copies of the complaint are available at
<http://www.commercialalert.org/orcomplaint.pdf>. For more information
about Channel One, see Commercial Alert’s Channel One web page at
<http://www.commercialalert.org/index.php/category_id/2/subcategory_id/32/article_id/120>

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
Find out if Channel One is in your local schools. If it is, then work
with Commercial Alert to rid the schools of Channel One. Call us at
(503) 235-8012 or email <info@commercialalert.org> for information or
advice. Commercial Alert also has a fact sheet on how to expel
commercialism from schools in your neighborhood and state

Commercial Alert is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is
to keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent
it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of family,
community, environmental integrity and democracy.

Commercial Alert has more than 2000 members, representing all 50 states
and the District of Columbia. For more information, visit our website at
<http://www.commercialalert.org>.

Commercial Alert's materials are distributed via our email list. To
subscribe, go to
<http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/commercial-alert>, or send
a blank message to <subscribe@commercialalert.org>. Subscribers receive
1-2 emails per week, at most.

--
Gary Ruskin | gary@commercialalert.org
Commercial Alert | http://www.commercialalert.org/
Congressional Accountability Project |
http://www.congressproject.org/
phone: 503.235.8012 | fax: 503.235.5073

--------------BAE64D7B0BA9BB4E529B207F
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
Commercial Alert, April 18, 2003
An Oregon parent filed a <a href="http://www.commercialalert.org/orcomplaint.pdf">complaint</a>
in an Oregon circuit court yesterday, contending that the Salem-Keizer
School District is violating the Oregon State Constitution by forcing his
son and daughter to watch commercial advertising in school.&nbsp; Specifically,
the complaint challenges the school district’s contract with <a href="http://www.commercialalert.org/index.php/category_id/2/subcategory_id/32/article_id/120">Channel
One</a>, a company that uses the schools to advertise to captive audiences
of about 8 million children in about 12,000 schools nationwide.
Attorneys Mark McDougal and Linda Williams
assert in the complaint that Channel One has commandeered about one full
week of school time each school year.
News articles about the complaint are at:
 <a href="http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=60131">http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=60131</a>
 <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1050667458318260.xml">http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1050667458318260.xml</a>
 <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/oregon/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?o0114_BC_OR--ChannelOne-Suit&&news&ornews">http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/oregon/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?o0114_BC_OR--ChannelOne-Suit&amp;&amp;news&amp;ornews</a>
The parent, Gary Boyes, who lives in Keizer,
Oregon, filed the case in the Marion County Circuit Court.&nbsp; Both his
daughter, Shanna Boyes, and son Gary Boyes, attend schools that use Channel
One, Walker Middle School and North Salem High School, respectively.
“Channel One has turned my children’s schools
into amphitheaters of commercial advertising for junk food and crass entertainment,”
said Gary Boyes.&nbsp; “It’s time for that to end.”
“Channel One is a waste of precious school
time,” said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert.&nbsp;
“It exists for one purpose -- to deliver a captive audience of impressionable
schoolchildren to corporate advertisers.&nbsp; Surely schools can put that
time to more productive uses -- such as teaching and active learning.”
Copies of the complaint are available at &lt;<a href="http://www.commercialalert.org/orcomplaint.pdf">http://www.commercialalert.org/orcomplaint.pdf</a>>.&nbsp;
For more information about Channel One, see Commercial Alert’s Channel
One web page at &lt;<a href="http://www.commercialalert.org/index.php/category_id/2/subcategory_id/32/article_id/120">http://www.commercialalert.org/index.php/category_id/2/subcategory_id/32/article_id/120</a>>
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
 Find out if Channel One is in your local
schools.&nbsp; If it is, then work with Commercial Alert to rid the schools
of Channel One.&nbsp; Call us at (503) 235-8012 or email &lt;<a href="mailto:info@commercialalert.org">info@commercialalert.org</a>>
for information or advice.&nbsp; Commercial Alert also has a <a href="http://www.commercialalert.org/schoolcommercialism.pdf">fact
sheet</a> on how to expel commercialism from schools in your neighborhood
and state
Commercial Alert is a national nonprofit organization
whose mission is to keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere,
and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values
of family, community, environmental integrity and democracy.
Commercial Alert has more than 2000 members,
representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia. For more information,
visit our website at &lt;<a href="http://www.commercialalert.org">http://www.commercialalert.org</a>>.
Commercial Alert's materials are distributed
via our email list.&nbsp; To subscribe, go to &lt;<a href="http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/commercial-alert">http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/commercial-alert</a>>,
or send a blank message to &lt;<a href="mailto:subscribe@commercialalert.org">subscribe@commercialalert.org</a>>.&nbsp;
Subscribers receive 1-2 emails per week, at most.
--
 Gary Ruskin | gary@commercialalert.org
 Commercial Alert | <a href="http://www.commercialalert.org/">http://www.commercialalert.org/</a>
 Congressional Accountability Project |
 <a href="http://www.congressproject.org/">http://www.congressproject.org/</a>
 phone: 503.235.8012 | fax: 503.235.5073
 &nbsp;</html>

--------------BAE64D7B0BA9BB4E529B207F--