Signs on the softball field Wednesday show the new name of May, Oberfell and Lorber Softball Field after the local law firm was given naming rights for the field at Penn High School. SBT Photo/GREG SWIERCZ
By the numbers
The P-H-M Education Foundation has finalized 12-yearlong naming rights agreements for these school facilities.
• May Oberfell Lorber, $25,000 to name the Penn High School softball field.
• Dar and Dot Wiekamp, $25,000 to name the Penn High School tennis courts.
• Jim and Julie Schwartz sponsored all of the corporation’s elementary music rooms, as well as the Penn High choir room. The Doshi family sponsored the Penn High band room. Individually, the elementary rooms would cost $5,000 each to name and the high school rooms between $20,000 and $25,000 each, but these two families have a long history of donating and have an ongoing commitment exceeding these amounts.
Information provided by Mari Linn Wise, executive director of the P-H-M Education Foundation.
MISHAWAKA — High up on one Penn High School concession stand, in bold black and gold lettering, a large sign announces "The May Oberfell Lorber Softball Field." Other such signs are popping up throughout the school district.
There's a naming rights campaign moving forward in the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. The nonprofit P-H-M Education Foundation is leading the charge, negotiating with local businesses and families to give money in exchange for a sign on a building or school facility recognizing their donation. The funds raised are promised for grants to schools and individual classrooms, use for such purchases as new iPads for students or teacher training.
Administrators see the revenue stream as a good way to offset budget constraints from the state, but critics say inviting in these paid "advertisements" is a terrible idea.
Naming rights isn't a new idea. In 2000, a sign sponsored by Coca-Cola and Gates Toyota went up at the newly constructed Riley High School in South Bend. The digital message board with its sponsors' names appeared without approval from the school board. The move raised a fuss in the community, but the sign stayed up. South Bend school board President Michelle Engel said the board still has no related policy, but may want to consider one. Recently, School City of Mishawaka was advised by a consultant studying its budget woes to consider, among other possibilities, sponsorships and naming rights.
The P-H-M school board opened the door for granting naming rights in July. Its new policy doesn't spell out exact criteria, but it gives the school board the power to determine whether or not a potential sponsor, business or individual, fits with the corporation's educational goals and identity. In addition, the agreement negotiated between the sponsor and the foundation has a clause giving the foundation and corporation final approval on what goes on the sign, according to foundation executive Director Mari Linn Wise.
"This is a marketing opportunity for businesses, but they're not coming in to influence education or policy," Wise said.
In the past two months, the P-H-M school board has approved two lists of potential donors: longtime donors and a new group willing to pay for naming rights.
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