A notebook sold to a student
out of a supply machine at
Mill Creek Elementary School
bears a logo and slogan
similar to those used in the
Obama campaign last year.
The supplier also distributed
pencils with a similar theme.
Pencils
and notebooks resembling President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign ads
have been sold in at least one Columbia school and other public
schools, causing the company that distributes the materials to travel
around the state yanking the supplies out of machines.
“Don’t be mad at us,” said Greg Jones, a sales representative with Pencil Wholesale. “It was a total accident.”
Pencil Wholesale distributes supplies to six Columbia schools:
Parkade Elementary, Cedar Ridge Elementary, Paxton Keeley Elementary,
Mill Creek Elementary, Smithton Middle School and Hickman High School,
said Linda Quinley, the district’s chief financial officer.
At Mill Creek, at least one pencil and a notebook with designs
similar to Obama campaign advertisements have been sold out of a supply
machine. Two families have complained about the politically tinged
materials.
Three Missouri schools have contacted Jones since the beginning of
the school year asking that the materials be removed, and Mill Creek
Principal Mary Sue Gibson this week said she also planned to call
Pencil Wholesale.
“I just don’t want to get into that political arena at all,” she said.
The bound three-ring notebook bears a photo of literal change —
pennies, quarters, dimes and nickels stacked into piles. Above the
photo, white text reads “CHANGE” over a navy background.
Below the photo, “WE CAN BELIEVE IN” sits above a logo similar to
Obama’s campaign image — three red stripes separated by white stripes
in front of a white circle with a blue background arching over the
circle.
The supplies were designed by the art department of Harcourt Pencil Co., based in Milroy, Ind., Jones said.
“The art department was trying to be cutesy,” he said.
There was no response this morning to a phone message to Harcourt.
Jones delivers the supplies to about 800 schools. He remembers
seeing the Obama-esque notebook when it was first designed, but “I
didn’t think one thing about it,” he said.
Jones has agreed to go to schools that might have received the supplies and remove them.
“I wish I could do it over,” he said. “But, for now, I can just make it right.”
Harcourt plans to give Jones a refund on the supplies as well, he said.
But first, Jones has to find the supplies. Out of a case of 72
notebooks, three of the controversial notebooks can be found, he said.
“It’s turned out to be really ugly,” Jones said. “We’re trying to get them out of the schools as fast as we can.”
He also wants to be clear that neither he nor his company created
the design. In fact, he said, he’s a registered Republican who voted
for John McCain in last year’s presidential election.
“It’s a total nightmare,” Jones said.
Reach Jonathon Braden at 573-815-1711 or e-mail jbraden@columbiatribune.com.