My guess is that no report tonight will highlight the students spotlighted in the meeting. Or cover the update on JCPS' efforts to combat bullying. Or report on the new program with the University of Cambridge. Or talk about the many incredible things that the 15th District PTA and its volunteers are doing within JCPS. And certainly there will be no coverage of my speech about the need to accommodate parents, which happened long after the four stations had checked out and taken their cameras outside to prepare their story and their standups outside the Van Hoose Education Center. That's okay, I have a face for radio.
Instead we'll get a report that tells us that JCPS is raising our taxes with some brief soundbites that will capture that the School Board was concerned about losing funds, but provide little, if any detail about the funds that have been lost the past several years, nor the way in which Kentucky's funding of schools ensures that Louisville will pay far more in to the state in taxes than they take out in services that benefit our community.
WDRB's reporter Kelly Davis tweeted " I'm sitting through tonight's #JCPS board meeting where they're considering raising property taxes so YOU don't have to! You're welcome :) " Perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but it would seem as though Kelly found the whole thing boring. Her report tonight said there were "several" people who expressed their concern to the board about the tax hike at tonight's meeting. There were exactly four and only two of them were against.
So here's my challenge to all television stations in the area. Despite the fact that board meetings are boring, send a reporter to EVERY one. Find a good reporter and photographer that can find the interesting stories there. Dedicate a full time reporter to the JCPS beat and have them start digging into the facts, providing information parents can use, highlighting success stories within the schools, and provide us with the detail that's always sorely lacking in discussions on busing, student achievement, tax increases and more. Our schools are our most important community resource, and deserve to be covered as such.