The Truth Behind Edison Week Posters

Every year, in the name of a forty year-old tradition, ASB and Senate plaster the Fountain Valley campus with posters to celebrate the potential Baron victory over Edison during the Battle of the Bell.

There is, though, a little known inconvenient truth behind these posters.  Members of ASB, of which there are 29, are required to create 100 posters, and each of the 50 members of Senate are required to create 30 posters each; this totals to 3,400 posters in all.  With each poster having an average area of 12 square feet, the total area of the paper amounts to roughly 40,800 square feet, which is about enough to cover the floor of all of  the classrooms in the Language, Science, Math, Business and Art Halls.

Taping up each poster requires an estimated 12 feet of tape per poster.  12 feet of tape multiplied by 3,400 posters means that approximately 41,000 feet of tape was used.  To put that in perspective, the maximum altitude of a Boeing 747-400 passenger jet is 41,000 feet.

The total amount of the supplies used may be great, but the budget used to finance the spending is even greater.  In response to an inquiry about the budget set aside for the Edison Week festivities, Assistant Principal of Activities Joe Fraser admitted that a “large portion” of the annual budget had been set aside specifically for Edison Week.

Mr. Fraser disclosed that the paper was bought at $45.57 per roll.  Despite not having a complete inventory, ASB publicity commission reported to Mr. Fraser that at least 10 rolls of paper had been used, meaning that a minimum of $455 was spent on the paper alone.  Tape was bought at $2.65 per roll, and with 258 rolls bought, the bill came to a total of $685.29.   The ink was bought at $24.00 for a bottle about the size of a quart.

Mr. Fraser informed us that this year’s spending had been reduced compared to previous years.  On the other hand, the cost for posting only blank posters around campus would exceed $1,100.  Then, consider the cost of having to ink each and every one of those 3,000 odd posters with ink that costs $24.00 per quart.  The costs, despite reductions, are still incredibly high.

Although Publicity Commission claimed that the posters were recycled to the best of their ability, it was noticed that a great portion of the posters did make their way to the trash.  For example, 50 excess posters which had not been used were handed over to Ms. Battig, the AP Environmental Science instructor, for recycling.  In spite of this, on the Monday morning after the posters were torn down, multiple dumpsters were filled with Edison Week posters deemed unfit to recycle awaiting trash pickup.

ASB member Chelsea Harvey admitted, “It broke my heart that so many posters that were worked very hard on were just thrown in the trash.  I definitely think that having each ASB member make 100 posters is too much considering how many I saw go in the trash.”

This year, the Edison Week posters were taped to the walls and ground of the Fountain Valley campus for only one day, unlike previous years.

“I was disappointed it was only up for a day because it is an FVHS tradition.  I was only able to read a few of them.” says Mallory Mackey (’13).

When pressed for a reason, Publicity Commission explained, “We decided to do it Thursday night to make Friday a larger deal with the pep rally and the game itself, and we decided that we would have the murals in the front for the whole week just to bring in more spirit and to anticipate Friday’s events.”

Ultimately though, Mr. Fraser was the decision-maker.  After conferring with Edison officials and upset teachers, Mr. Fraser handed the mandate to ASB that the posters were to only be on Baron walls for Friday.

“Three of the big items we talked about were student health, their academics, and cost,” explicated Mr. Fraser.  He cited concerns from teachers who did not approve of their students staying at school so late every night during Edison Week, as well as students who had become ill as a result.

Even so, Mr. Fraser did acknowledge that his views were at least aligned with that of the general student body, saying that he “would have liked to have seen the posters up for more than a day.”

Several students weighed in, suggesting that perhaps there were alternatives to reduce waste and just trashing the posters.

Sophomore Jayne Yokoyama stated, “They weren’t exactly really inspirational or anything.  Considering the rain, I don’t think it was worth it. I think they could have been smarter about that and put them in the halls.”

Junior Sandra Do suggested that we “reuse the ones from last year to save paper.”

“Instead of wasting so much paper, time and money year after year on school posters, maybe [ASB] should get a few of the really good posters laminated so they can save and reuse them in the future,” proposed junior Tyler Ratzlaff.

Spanish teacher Mr. Diecidue even goes as far as to suggest that the posters be done on a reusable canvas, pointing out that while the initial costs may be high, the reusable posters would pay for themselves over time.