SJ School Torched in Arson Fire Competes for Facebook Prize
Vote early, vote often! That's the message from supporters of a fire-damaged elementary school in San Jose, in the running for a half-million dollar prize that hinges on a Facebook vote.
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Kohl's department store is running a $10 million prize campaign on Facebook, asking users to vote for their favorite schools. The top 20 in the nation are promised $500,000 each.
In San Jose, there's an email campaign to get people to vote for Trace Elementary School, which was severely damaged by arson this summer.
"It will support them for the next two years, they'll be able to get great programs, and they'll be able to spend it on whatever they want," said District Spokesperson Karen Fuqua.
Fuqua wants everyone to vote on Facebook, but KCBS Technology Analyst Larry Magid is a bit skeptical about the process.
"This isn't pure altruism on behalf of Kohl's, you have to 'like' them on Facebook, which has commercial value," said Magid. "So it strikes me as something of a gimmick."
The cutoff for voting is tomorrow, and currently, Trace Elementary is ranked at number 32.
