Joplin R-8 Board of Education member Rodney Blaukat's letter to the editor in today's Joplin Globe accurately points out one of the major problems with the area's biggest newspaper.
Blaukat criticized the Globe for its characterization in a headline that R-8 MAP scores had "plateaued." In fact, the scores for the district were considerably higher than they were last year. That was the news, but that was not what the Globe emphasized. Though Globe editors made a page-one correction a couple of days afterward, it came nowhere near to erasing the damage that had already been done. In fact, it never even said what it was that was actually being corrected.
The furor over the MAP scores headlines is just the most recent in many such stories concerning The Globe. The Globe has a tendency to play up the negative stories or to give a negative slant to positive stories, while either burying positive stories on the back pages or not printing them at all.
I vividly remember the incident of six or seven years ago when some members of the Jasper High School volleyball team got into trouble after the Greenfield Tournament. Their dressing room was next to the area where Greenfield officials kept the supplies for their kitchen. A few of the girls stole some condiments (large containers of mustard, relish, and ketchup, if I recall) and used those items later that night to vandalize a teacher's home.
The girls were punished by school officials, though some did not feel they received a big enough punishment. One of the girls was the daughter of a school board member. Charges of favortism were leveled in the Jasper community.
Over a month later, the Globe reported the story. Now I would be the first to stay there is a legitimate reason to cover this type of story. A school board member may have misused his position to protect his daughter from facing the full consequences of what she had done. However, the Globe carried this story on page one of the paper, not on page one of an inside section, but on page one.
Remember, we are talking about an incident that occurred more than a month earlier, an incident in which the girls had been punished (even though perhaps not to the extent that some thought they should have been). No one was considering any type of legal action that might have made the story worthy of page one. Once again, it was the case of the Globe blowing a negative story way out of proportion.
It is a pattern that has been repeated time after time over the years. Take the Joplin R-8 School District, for example. Every day, positive newsworthy things are going on, things that would make intereseting reading. Innovative techniques are working in the classroom, as the MAP scores would indicate. Very rarely is anything written about these positive things. When they are mentioned, they are usually relegated to a space somewhere deep inside the paper and most times they are not even prominently displayed on that page.
My former managing editor at The Carthage Press, Neil Campbell, had a different take. When I was first hired as the Press's area reporter, my main beats were in Webb City, Jasper, and Sarcoxie. About a month after I began work, in late April of 1990, the entire four-man police force at Carterville quit. The story had already been run in The Globe and on the three local television stations, so it wasn't as if we had a story that no one else had. But I had not been covering Carterville. I looked at this as another case of a newspaper being willing to come in and spread negative news, without ever covering the positive.
I asked Neil if we could take a different approach. I suggested that we wait a couple of weeks until the controversy died down, then blanketing Carterville with coverage of their elementary school, their city business, their civic groups, and other positive happenings. This would offer us two advantages, I said. One, it would give me time to develop the sources I needed when a negative story did take place. Two, it would show the people of Carterville that we were willing to cover more than just their scandals and controversies. Neil agreed and that's exactly the approach we took.
It didn't take long before more controversy erupted in Carterville. The Press came up with stories on these events that other media outlets couldn't get and we did not receive any criticism of our coverage. If you are not willing to cover poiitive news, you have no business intruding upon a community to cover the negative.
The same thing happened when I covered the controversy surrounding the Sarcoxie Police Force in the late 1990s. Despite the fact that we ran numerous stories over that controversy, we received little criticism and none of that came from the regular public.
The Globe has a public relations problem in its own community and most of that relates back to its coverage of local news. There's an old canard of journalism that goes that positive news isn't news, that people only want to read about controversy. That has never been true and if today's newspapers want to survive they need to realize that and begin serving their communities.
Good stories are out there, but you won't find them unless you're looking for them.
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On the other hand, though it is not a positive news story, credit has to be given to The Lamar Democrat for the way in which it covered the fire that destroyed the historic building on the square in which Strong's Corner Florist was located.
The Democrat used almost all of page one in its Wednesday edition and had multiple stories covering nearly all of the bases on this important event. The coverage was not overdone. When you have a subject in which the community is interested, you can't offer too much coverage. The Democrat was also able to get hold of powerful phorographs of the fire. It was a job well done.
I just wish the people at the Democrat would also realize that important community events, as well as tragedies, deserve this type of blanket coverage. It woudl have been nice to have seen more coverage of the Lamar Free Fair and a buildup, complete with historical references, to the Silver Tiger game. These events resonate with a large portion of the Democrat's readership. Thorough coverage would have been appreciated.
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Now for a little bit of hypocrisy, let's move on to the bad news.
A Joplin doctor is being sued in the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri for malpractice and wrongful death. According to court records, Blake A. Little, MD, allegedly made a misdiagnosis that resulted in the death of Joseph Natalini, Pittsburg, Kan. The case has been filed by Mr. Natalini's widow and their children.
Natalini was first treated by Dr. Litle in 1995, according to court documents. On June 28, 1995, he was treated for shortness of breath. On March 4, 1996, Natalini underwent a CT scan which revealed two small, noncalcified nodules on his lungs.
Natalini underwent a series of tests from that time through Feb. 17, 1997, the petition indicates. On that date, a chest x-ray was performed and the report was sent to Dr. Litle's office.
"(Litle) then failed follow up with Joseph Natalini's lung condition until July 1998," the petition says.
In August 1998, Natalini was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died on April 12, 2004.
His family says Litle failed to correctly diagnose the cancer, didn't recognize the symptoms, failed to have the proper biopsies done and failed to follow up after his CT scans and x-rays. If he had, they say, Natalini's condition might have been curable.
In the petition, the survivors say Litle indicated to them that Natalini's case "fell through the cracks."
Family members are asking for "fair and reasonable" damages, attorney fees, and costs.
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A prime talking point of the Republicans during their recently concluded national convention was the full funding of the tax cuts that they have given to everyone over the past couple of years.
While they are so concerned about billionaires and millionaires receiving these tax cuts, they are about to let another group of people slip completely through the cracks. For the past two years, the nation's teachers have received a $250 tax break to partially repay them for the amount they spend on supplies and needs for their classrooms out of their own pockets. Even the people who pushed this tax break through two years ago, acknowledged that most teachers spend far in excess of that amount.
The tax break was only placed in effect for two years. It is about to run out and apparently no one is paying any attention or they don't care. This needs to be made permanent and that amount should be increased.
I know that I spend more than $250 a year for supplies and things for my students, and the amount I spend pales in comparison to the amount spent by nearly all elementary school teachers.
Let's worry about these people before we take care of the millionaires.
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Sticking with education, Missourinet reports that the percentage of male teachers in classrooms is rapidly dropping. For each male teacher in Missouri, there are four females. In elementary schools, there are 12 female teachers for every male teacher.
That might not seem to be a reason to be overly concerned, but during the elementary and middle school years, these children need positive role models, especially those who do not have them at home. The problem is growing more and more each year as the number of single-parent homes increases, with the children usually living with their mothers.
The Missourineet articles points out two reasons for the problem:
"State education department figures show men are much more likely to teach in higher grades or fill administrative positions," and Kent King of the Missouri State Teachers Association says the primary reason more men are not inclined to become teachers is the bottom line. "Money, not motivation, is a big factor," King said.
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The rapid elimination of everyone with the last name O'Sullivan from O'Sullivan Industries and the change of the company's corporate headquarters from Lamar to Atlanta has had Lamar residents asking the question, "How could this happen?" They want to know how Tom O'Sullivan Sr. could create a company then have his children and grandchildren forced out of it.
I don't know if this will help any, but Hoover's Inc, a highly-respected Austin, Texas, company that provides information to investors on companies across the United States, offers this capsule history of O'Sullivan Industries.
" 'Some assembly required' is an understatement at O'Sullivan Industries, one of the top makers of ready-to-assemble furniture in the U. S. The company designs and produces products for home offices (desks, work centers, bookcases) for electronic display (home entertainment centers, TV cabinets) and for home decor (dressers, pantries, microwave carts). Home office products account for more than half of O'Sullivan's sales, and its particleboard furniture is sold mostly by office superstores and mass merchandisers. Members of O'Sullivan's management own nearly 30 percent of the company; investment firm Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill and Co. owns the rest. Its preferred shares are publicly traded.
"OfficeMax (acquired by Boise Cascade in 2004) and Office Depot together account for nearly a third of O'Sullivan's sales, while Wal-Mart brings in about 12 percent. Pursuant to a licensing agreement with The Colemany Company (2003), O'Sullivan is creating a line of storage products that will bear the Coleman name. Chairman Danny O'Sullivan is joined at the company by brothers and SVPs Thomas Jr. and Michael.." I should note that this was written just prior to recent events.
"History- After attending a Fourth of July cookout at which his host complained about the difficulty of moving a so-called portable TV, Thomas O'Sullivan went to his machine shop and began making what might have been the first TV cart. Starting his company as O'Sullivan Industries in 1954 in St. Louis, he sold his idea to RCA and General Electric. O'Sullivan moved to Lamar, Missouri, in 1965, when it opened a plant there. In 1983, the company was acquired by Tandy, an electronics retailer. Thomas's son, Danny, succeeded him as president in 1986. Tandy spun off the company to the public in 1994. O'Sullivan family membets and personnel bought shares, but fell short of obtaining a controlling interest. Danny added CEO and chairman to his titles that year. The company also struck a licensing deal with Fisher-Price to make a line of infant and juvenile furniture in 1994. In 1995, rising prices for particleboard and packign materials hurt profits, which fell again the next year as one of its larger customers, Best Products, filed for bankruptcy. In response, O'Sullivan restructured, cutting jobs and streamlining its product line. It also, for the first time in company history, appointed an outsider as president in 1996: Rick Davidson, a former American Household (formerly Sunbeam) executive. In 1997, sales and profits were on the rebound, but another major customer, Montgomery Ward, filed for Chapter 11. In 1999, O'Sulivan was taken private in a $350 million deal by Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co, and members of its management; however, its preferred shares still trade over the counter. Davidson was named CEO in 2000. Declining sales forced the company to close its Utah plant in 2001. Founder Thomas O'Sullivan Sr. passed away in March 2004 at the age of 82."
The report was obviously recent, since it included million-dollar CEO Bob Parker, formerly of Newell Rubbermaid, and his two former confederates at Rubbermaid, CFO Rick Walters and executive vice president Michael Orr.
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About the only time you hear about court decisions is either when they reach the U. S. Supreme Court level or when they so outlandish (as in an appeals court decision that struck the words "under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance) that you have to take notice of it.
Unfortunately, that short-sided approach leaves the country not knowing of the many smaller decisions at lower courts that affect their freedoms. One such decision was handed down earlier this week by the U. S Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which includes Missouri.
An attempt by the Sioux Falls. S. D. School District to take away the First Amendment rights of elementary school teacher Barbara Wigg was rebuffed by the appellate court.
Ms. Wiggs challenged the school district's decision that kept her from participating in a Christian-based after-school program after school. She claimed that decision violated her First Amendment rights. The court agreed with her.
Wigg teaches second and third graders at Laura B. Anderson Elementary School and has taught in the district for the past 16 years. Ms. Wigg, accordindg to the court decision, is one of those teachers who arrives well before school begins and stays long after the final bell has rung.
She has also worked with Girl Scouts and has given private guitar and reading lessons after school. The school district has a policy which allows community organizations to use its facilities. They have to be non-profit and have liability insurance.
The Good News Club is an after-school club sponsored by Child Evangelism Fellowship. In 2002, the club asked for permission to meet at five schools in the district. Ms. Wigg attended the group's first meeting at Anderson on Dec. 15, 2002. Nine students, including a few from her class, attended. The students played a game, learned a Bible verse, and heard a Christian story, according to the court ruling.
A fellow faculty member complained about Ms. Wigg helping teach a Christian lesson. Principal Mary Peterson told her she could no longer do that since that could pbe perceived as the government establishing a religion, which is prohibited in the First Amendment.
Ms. Wigg made two efforts to appeal that decision and was turned down both times. She filed a complaint on Feb. 20, 2003 saying that the school district's policy violated her constitutional rights. The court ruled that the district could keep her from attending these meetings at Anderson Elementary, but she was free to attend them at other schools in the district. The school district appealed the decision.
The appellate court ruled, "We conclude that Wigg's participation in the after-school club constitutes private speech. Wigg's private speech does not put (the school district) at risk of violating the Establishment Clause. Wigg's speech did not occur during a school-sponsored event; she did not affiliate her views with (the school district) and (her lawyer) proposed a disclaimer explaining that any school district employees participating in the club were activing as private citizens and did not represent (the school district) in any manner."
The court said "no reasonable observer" would think her speech was a state endorsement of religion. "Even private speech occurring a school-related functions is constitutionally protected.therefore private speech occurring at non-school functions held on school grounds must necessarily be afforded those same protections."