"Kidsville! News" and "Think" to be Distributed within MERS District

Children’s newspapers were a topic of discussion at the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District Board of Education workshop meeting on Tuesday night at their .

The district has been distributing Kidsville! News to the schools, a local newspaper for kids that is published by the Hometown Publishing Company of Millstone Township. The publishers offers the children’s newspaper for free within Monmouth and Mercer counties.

It is protocol within the MERS district that any item containing advertisements be approved before it is distributed. The advertisements in Kidsville! News are aimed at parents and teachers, and not targeted towards children, Monroe explained.

When Kidsville! News was introduced into the school system, Marciante had not pre-approved it, but Assistant Superintendent Joanne Monroe was aware of its usage in the schools. Monroe said she did not stop the usage of Kidsville! News by teachers because “it is a very good reading resource for kids [and] I like most of the writing that’s going on.”

Monroe went on to say that the students don’t do enough writing and “this is one vehicle that has attracted a number of our teachers, and they have had students submitting pieces to this newspaper and occasionally our students have been published in this, and I would like to continue that.”

Superintendent John J. Marciante had recently pulled Kidsville! News from the district schools when two competitors, Think and The Monmouth Family Times, approached him about distribution within the district. Marciante said he pulled Kidsville! News for the moment because Think and The Monmouth Family Times said that their newspapers were the same as Kidsville! News in reference to the fact that they also contain advertisements. Marciante said he did not want to make the decision of which children’s newspaper should be distributed in the district without discussion with the Board.

“The teachers are not as interested in those other newspapers, they are not as good, they haven’t been around as long  - I would prefer not to have those in the buildings because if they’re not being used it’s just recycling for us to deal with,” Monroe said.

Monroe told the Board that the Monmouth Family Times has more advertising than student-generated or student-interest work, and the teachers in the district have no interest in that using it in the classroom.

One school within the district enjoys the children’s newspaper Think, and Monroe said she would not mind if it comes to the district.

The Board reviewed issues of all three children's newspapers. Board President Michelle Stipelman said that both Think and Kidsville! News are appropriate, but Monmouth Family Times is too commercial. The Board agreed and decided to allow distribution of both Think and Kidsville! News and leave it up to the teachers discretion as to which newspaper they want to use, but The Monmouth Family Times would not be circulated. This issue was brought up in a workshop meeting, so no official action has been taken.

In regards to a possible objection from The Monmouth Family Times, Monroe said that the Board "retains the right to say no thanks to anything they don't feel is appropiate."