Public Schools Have Become a Prime Target for Medical Research Recruitment
Students and parents are subject to advertisements from top medical schools due to advancements in edtech with little oversight.
Remember going through your child’s backpack or school folder and getting paper flyers for things such as school picture day, spirit week, school fundraisers, book fair or community events? Well, those days are gone for the most part thanks to digital flyers taking the place of paper flyers. School districts across the nation are partnering with Peachjar to distribute digital flyers right to your inbox instead of the backpack.
Peachjar enables school districts and parent groups to send information to parents as colorful digital flyers. School districts can quickly take action on pending flyer approval requests from community organizations and manage active flyers. Peachjar's reporting tool also allows you to track flyer performance, allowing you to improve parent engagement over time.
How does it work? Districts, schools and community organizations sign up with a paid subscription, then pick their desired schools for distribution and upload their flyer on Peachjar. The flyer is then sent to your school district for approval. Approved flyers from both outside vendors and the school/district are emailed to parents as images and posted to each school’s website.
Peachjar partners with over 17K schools and over 900 school districts, so this is a prime way for outside school organizations to advertise. Top medical schools are using the growing form of digital communication as an avenue to recruit subjects for their medical research and are utilizing Peachjar in schools to do so. Before Peachjar and the rise in digital communication my family never received paper flyers from school advertising for recruitment in medical research studies. For example in North Carolina, Orange County Schools, Durham Public Schools and Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools currently have distributed digital flyers advertising for several paid medical research studies: Duke autism research study, UNC contraceptives research, UNC ADHD study, UNC depression and menstruation study, UNC alcohol study, and a UNC hormone and puberty study.
Who gives final approval to distribute Peachjar flyers? School districts have policies in place for the distribution and display of non-school material and advertising in schools. NC public schools Policy 5210 states that organizations wishing to distribute non-school-sponsored flyers must submit them for approval to the Superintendent or Superintendent’s designee. The Superintendent or designee must use the guidelines set in policy to screen and approve flyers and they have additional specific guidelines for approving Peachjar flyers.
According to Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools any Peachjar flyer that involves a research study must be approved by Diane Villwock, Executive Director of Assessment and Research and their board policy does not allow the distribution of commercial advertising or other information from for-profit organizations to students. Durham Public Schools Office of Public Affairs staff handles approving flyers and does not allow for-profit organizations to distribute materials to its students. Chief Public Information Officer, Kevin Smith, handles the task of approving flyers for Orange County Schools. Durham and Orange County Schools have no special approval guidelines for approving flyers involving a research study.
The sole discretion for approving flyers is left to a select few individuals within the school districts. They are being guided by the notion that distributing these valuable flyers is an act of community service to inform parents about resources for their child and help students reach their maximum potential.
Orange County Schools is excited to share information about our partnership with Peachjar to help us unite schools, parents, and communities in our collective mission to help students reach their maximum potential! Peachjar’s platform streamlines school-to-home communication by distributing valuable school and community resources directly to families as digital flyers.
Yet is it appropriate for school districts to market medical research studies to parents and students that entice participants with payments, bonuses and gift cards? Further, are medical research groups considered vital and relevant community organizations that need to communicate to schools in order to “support the social and emotional development of the next generation” as Peachjar states?
If you see this as a problem reach out to the Superintendent and school board in your district to share your concerns. To find out if your district or school is advertising research studies via Peachjar flyers you can search for your school here. Alternatively visit your school district’s website and look for the Peachjar logo at the bottom of the homepage to view any current flyers.