Photo by JESHOOTS.COM used under the Unsplash License.
Here’s why it should be and how to do it right
Part 3 – How students can cover school boards like the pros
This three-part blog has it all: an explanation of the need for good coverage of school board issues, the legal and ethical concerns for this reporting, and the writing skills to effectively tell your audience what it should know.
Part 1: Why covering schools boards is important
Part 2: What makes it challenging legally and ethically
Now that you’re convinced students SHOULD cover school board meetings and know that they COULD legally do so, no matter what anyone has told them, it’s time to have a refresher on best practices for reporting on and writing about meetings.
Covering the meeting
First, come prepared. This means getting the agenda, looking at past agendas or reliable news articles and checking out social media posts. What has been going on in their meetings? Find out as much as possible about the school board members and what they are likely to support or reject.
Once you’ve seen the agenda, make sure you understand what it means. If there’s a lot on taxes or financial matters or another subject that’s unclear to you, find someone who can explain to you how it works or what it means. That could be a social studies teacher or a friendly school administrator or someone who deals with budgets and how to read them.
Sometimes school boards and other groups seem to talk in code. What’s the *USED and how could its situation impact the school? Would it matter how much they pay for **DSS or additional teachers for TESOL? If you see these on the agenda, find out before you go to the meeting so what the board is discussing makes sense. If the reporter doesn’t understand, it’s unfair to just pass along words to readers and expect they will get it. You have to fill in the information that even board minutes probably won’t explain. How do these items apply to members of your audience and why they should care?
Other important tips:
- Show up on time. Explain who you are and why you are there. You are a reporter.
- Be prepared with any technology you need, fully charged or with spare batteries.
- Sit close enough so you can hear and see facial expressions. That specific information may not fit in your story, but it might lead you to good sources later, for instance, someone who wasn’t pleased with the vote and might be willing to talk and explain his or her concerns.
- And that brings up another important bit of knowledge: Be sure when you interview after the meeting, you’re clear that this is “on the record” so you can use it verbatim and include their name. If someone doesn’t want that, let them know their conversation is “off the record.” This is something your editorial board should think about and set a policy. Do you want such information? How might you use it without using a fake name or “anonymous”? Those are not the most ethical approaches, but perhaps an off-the-record source can help you get to someone who will give you excellent information you can quote.
- Make sure your sources answer your questions. Some may try to get you off track. Just stay calm and repeat the question, perhaps another way. If it’s clear they won’t really answer your questions, simply thank them and find another source.
- Also be sure what sources tell you is true. If you’re interviewing citizens as they leave the meeting, they might have a strong bias and sound like they’re offering facts to support that. Check those “facts.” Corroborate with experts and make sure the information checks out. That’s true for any of your sources.
Writing the article
If you got all the information you need for your article, you can start the writing process. But as you do so, look for holes in your information, particularly those that could explain how a decision will impact your readers. You must give them the “so what?” or they won’t keep reading very long.
If you don’t have that, it’s time to go back to the reporting phase. Can you ask original sources to explain a bit more? Be honest – explain what you don’t understand and ask for clarification. Or do you need additional sources – teachers who might understand the impact of a decision on their programs? Administrators who know they will have to find more money somewhere to keep an activity going?
Another option is submitting a records request (see blog Part 2), though you have to be specific about what you want. Board decisions generally are open to the public.
Once you have all you think you need, let’s start writing. How you do that can vary greatly. One of the most enlightening articles about writers, one I’ve thought of and explained to students for years, comes from Don Fry, who directed the Poynter Institute of Media Studies writing program from 1988-1994. Luckily, his article about “plungers” and “planners” is still in Poynter’s archives online.
In brief, it means, as Fry writes, “Planners know what they want to say before they say it… [t]hey decide what to do, and then do it. Plungers jump in and do it, figuring things out as they go along.”
Most writers I’ve worked with know which term describes them best and nod their heads when they hear this. Or, like me, they are planners sometimes and plungers for other writing. Part 1 of this blog came pretty much from my planner side with a few sidesteps to analyze what should work next. Part 2 was definitely planner because I needed to be sure not to leave out any important legal concerns and to double check I had explained them fully. Part 3, however, has my hands flying across the keyboard with only occasional hesitation to make sure others will understand. Whether you are a teacher or a student journalist reading this, please follow the link above to see Fry’s tips to making YOUR way of writing more successful. I’ll leave that explanation to him.
What I will leave with you are some thoughts on how to make an article about a school board meeting most useful and professional for your readers.
- The lead SHOULD NOT start with “when.” The date of the meeting is rarely most important and even could seem very old and perhaps useless.
- The lead SHOULD summarize the most important outcome for your readers. If you are timely, this is probably something your audience didn’t know – and should know. Did the board change some clubs or course content because of the DEI directives from the White House? Is the cost of cafeteria food going up because of inflation and/or cost of certain food items? (NOTE: Others might disagree, but I don’t believe this is the time for an anecdotal, descriptive or other delayed lead if it’s truly a news story.)
- Don’t forget a “so what?” Even more important than the 5Ws and H, make sure your audience sees decisions or potential ones it will impact them. This shouldn’t include your opinion or editorializing.
- Paragraphs should be short. Tell readers what happened to bring about any change or decision. Give them the facts. A second paragraph with an expert source backing up those facts is always good.
- Some info isn’t necessary. Remember, your article is not the minutes of the meeting – that’s why you don’t start with a call to order and go to adjournment. If there’s a big decision made that will impact lots of your audience, stick to that in this article and write some news briefs on the other topic or put those after the important topics.
- Don’t editorialize at the end. Whether it’s a good decision or a bad one, it’s not up to you to include your opinion in a news story. Maybe the editorial board wants to write an edit – that’s fine – leave it to them.
If school boards haven’t been a beat for your student media, these three recent blog posts should help show you WHY they are perhaps one of the most important topics you should cover, WHAT you have a right to access and report on, and HOW to do it professionally so your audience can understand changes and perhaps even have a say in future ones.
*USED = United States Department of Education, which might be eliminated – and it provides funding for various school programs.
**DSS = Disability Support Services, TESOL = Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Written By: Candace Bowen, MJE