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On March 18, 2010 when William Barber filed a complaint with the accrediting agency AdvancED saying the Wake County School Board was in violation of several accreditation standards. Anyone who followed the developments knows The News and Observer was all over the story and gave it high visibility and coverage over the nearly two years that the story unfolded.
With that in mind it’s interesting to see how the paper has decided to cover a similar complaint filed by the Wake County Taxpayers Association (WCTA) that calls on AdvancED to investigate actions by the current Wake County School Board. Specifically, the complaint alleges that “actions and behaviors of the members of the Wake County Board of Education undermined the Efficacy of Required Actions outlined in the 2011 AdvancED monitoring report. Moreover the actions described here do not adhere to the accreditation standards and policies articulated by AdvancED or administered by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS/CASI) .”
Serious stuff. All the more reason to wonder about the coverage the N&O gave a story in this morning’s paper. Where would you find the story about the WCTA complaint? It didn’t make the first section of the paper. Nor event the front page of the second section. That’s interesting in that the second section usually highlights local issues and frequently includes education or school stories. In fact, the lead story in this second section this morning was ” Teacher Faces Sex Charges.” Below the fold is another education story titled,“ School assignment info to be posted” which also seems to merit more visibility, but that’s another issue. Where do you find the story about the WCTA suit? Page through 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B and 6B. On page 7B, the Obituary page, you see“School Board accused of Impropriety,” sandwiched between three columns of death notices and the continuation of a front page story of a teacher facing sex abuse charges.
Just thought you might want to know….
