We distributed our paper yesterday morning, and I have to admit I was a little nervous about this one. I expected to get phone calls from a couple of different people because of the stories we ran, but my phone remained quiet through the day. I stand by the content of the stories, but I know some people in our community just don't like us talking about certain things. This batch of stories was probably the most solid batch we have run all year.
Our c-spread and cover story was about the rise in fights at our school this year. My students discovered that 47 students have been suspended for fighting so far this year, and we had 30 all of last year. They had data for each grade level and quotes from the principal, police liaison officer, students, hall monitors and teachers. When I returned to my office after distribution, one of my coworkers immediately told me it was about time we talked about this story.
One of the veteran English teachers at our school took the time to rip out and comment on two stories that her former students had written because she was impressed by their depth and voice. It was the first thing she did that morning. She has always supported us, but she has never done this before. One of the stories was an editorial about why we can't pull ourselves away from watching the fights. I talked to her briefly and she gushed over this student's insight and leadership on this role. The interesting thing was when we talked more about the larger topic and our c-spread, she seemed to think we shouldn't have done it as a c-spread because it makes our school look bad.
The other story I expected to take heat from was the story in the variety section on the selection process for the a capella choirs at HHS. There is some angst among singers about the fact that current members of the a capella choir members get to have input on who will succeed them. I asked several choir members in my classes and they confirmed this angst. I personally think it is a petty frustration after reading the story and finding out what the process is from current members and the choir director. Nevertheless, the choir director approached me asking that any story we cover about his program be done so in a positive manner. I said we would be fair and verify our facts. When my student went down to him to verify his quotes, he solicited two other music teachers to try to convince her that running this story would make people who do make the choir feel like they did not earn it and that it would discourage others from trying out.
I don't think the sky in the choir room has fallen yet, but I have not heard from him. I hope he found the story fair, as 90 percent of it was dedicated to factually outlining the process of auditions and he and his a capella choir students were given significant ink.
Our issue can be found @ http://issuu.com/royalpage/docs/marchissuu.
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