In the news world they say if it bleeds it leads and that's kind of how it is with education coverage.
Take these examples from the Times Union:
The first is a story about over a thousand teachers not getting a modest bonus they had been counting on.
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/20180404/1000-duval-educators-miss-state-bonus
It is 761 words long. Over a thousand teachers let down by Tallahassee and we couldn't get to 800 words.
The next piece is about if a music teacher who may or may not have made inappropriate comments and taught her students, a "slave game." Mind you it is still an investigation.
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/20180405/duval-music-teacher-investigated-for-alleged-racial-comments-game-in-class
That article is 741 words.
1000 teachers left out in the cold versus one teacher who 'may" have done something. the difference 20 words.
Then look at the coverage of the last school board meeting where the main news was a change to math cut scores that the district warns may cause a ten percent drop in graduation rates and a hole host of other problems.
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/20180403/duval-county-graduation-rates-could-drop-next-year-school-district-official-warns
It was just 489 words but it's even worse than that because over half the piece, 258 words, was about a teacher who received a 30 day suspension.
A thousand teachers losing out on money and a potential ten percent drop in graduation rates got as much coverage as two teachers, and one of them "may" have done something.
I have a google DCPS and education alert and for a while it was filled with pieces about the teacher who used the N word and was suspended last month, it received coverage not just in Jax but all over the country too. Well at the same time the Tallahassee was passing a budget that gave our school district just 47 cents per student which is going to create a whole host of problems.
There were two pieces in the Times Union about what the teacher did, but only one about what Tallahassee did. Now what the guy did was reprehensible but isn't what Tallahassee did more so?
I get it, what a random teacher here or there does is news, but isn't the systematic destruction of public education and the shoddy treatment of teachers at the hands of the republican's in Tallahassee bigger news?
Take these examples from the Times Union:
The first is a story about over a thousand teachers not getting a modest bonus they had been counting on.
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/20180404/1000-duval-educators-miss-state-bonus
It is 761 words long. Over a thousand teachers let down by Tallahassee and we couldn't get to 800 words.
The next piece is about if a music teacher who may or may not have made inappropriate comments and taught her students, a "slave game." Mind you it is still an investigation.
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/20180405/duval-music-teacher-investigated-for-alleged-racial-comments-game-in-class
That article is 741 words.
1000 teachers left out in the cold versus one teacher who 'may" have done something. the difference 20 words.
Then look at the coverage of the last school board meeting where the main news was a change to math cut scores that the district warns may cause a ten percent drop in graduation rates and a hole host of other problems.
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/20180403/duval-county-graduation-rates-could-drop-next-year-school-district-official-warns
It was just 489 words but it's even worse than that because over half the piece, 258 words, was about a teacher who received a 30 day suspension.
A thousand teachers losing out on money and a potential ten percent drop in graduation rates got as much coverage as two teachers, and one of them "may" have done something.
I have a google DCPS and education alert and for a while it was filled with pieces about the teacher who used the N word and was suspended last month, it received coverage not just in Jax but all over the country too. Well at the same time the Tallahassee was passing a budget that gave our school district just 47 cents per student which is going to create a whole host of problems.
There were two pieces in the Times Union about what the teacher did, but only one about what Tallahassee did. Now what the guy did was reprehensible but isn't what Tallahassee did more so?
I get it, what a random teacher here or there does is news, but isn't the systematic destruction of public education and the shoddy treatment of teachers at the hands of the republican's in Tallahassee bigger news?
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