Grand Re-Opening: Under New Management!

Finishing up a ride-along with a school truancy officer in the Las Vegas valley, I continued asking questions--despite my full notebook--just to see if there was another, maybe better, story for the Las Vegas Sun.

“What do you do in the afternoon after you finish rounding up truants?” I asked that officer two years ago.

“I’ve got to deal with the leftovers,” he told me.

He wasn’t talking about last night’s pot roast, but rather the dozens of students each day whose parents, siblings or designated minders fail to pick them up after school. I learned there were more than 10,000 “leftover” students annually–25 officers weren’t enough to handle all of them.

These are the moments we love as journalists–when a lucky question becomes a key that unlocks a story. Afterward, I tried to remember to end my interviews with this question: “Where are you going next?”

When I applied for the position of public editor for the EWA, the opportunity to work with reporters, writers and editors was the biggest draw of the job. I will get to do that through one-on-one help sessions, EWA-sponsored webinars and workshops, and the topics I choose to write about in this blog.

I’m new to this, so I haven’t quite figured out how many layers of reportorial objectivity I need to shed and how much of my snarkiness to let loose. I appreciate your patience while I find that balance.

I inherited the Educated Reporter. My predecessor Linda Perlstein left a big pair of shoes–news-savvy, witty and intelligent shoes–to fill. She also set a solid framework and some ground rules for this space, and I intend to follow her lead.

*You will find constructive criticism here but no name-calling.

*I will occasionally steer you toward content on the EdMedia Commons site (it’s easy and free to join!) but, for the most part, this blog will stand on its own.

*My posts will aim to be conversation starters, not soliloquies. Your comments are welcome.

*When I come across a study, report or story I think you might want to know about or that could be useful to you, I’ll share. I ask you to do the same.

*There will be no shilling of products. That doesn’t mean I won’t recommend an app that’s helping me organize my own writing or point you toward a snazzy new digital recorder. In these cases, my opinions are still my own and not for sale.

One of my favorite parts of the day in the newsroom was brainstorming with other reporters on story ideas and coming up with fresh approaches to routine topics. You can expect to find a fair amount of that here. For example, next week I’ll have a slew of back-to-school stories that can be localized for just about any market. You should always feel free to grab my ideas and run. (If you do end up using one, please send me a clip for my electronic scrapbook. I’m kind of a geek that way.)

Now I am here, you are there, and it’s time to get to know each other. I’ve never been a huge fan of speed-dating: Relationships need time to develop. But here are a few tidbits to get us going:

*One of my first jobs in journalism required me to trim copy by hand with an Exacto blade and run it through a waxer before rolling it onto a template (Hey kids! Don’t skip the archeology wing at the Newseum!).

*When Chelsea Clinton was a student at Stanford, I broke the news that her bike had been stolen. The Secret Service was not amused.

*I was fortunate to spend the past year at the University of Michigan as a Knight-Wallace Fellow, where I studied the resurgence of single-sex public education, traveled to South America and Turkey, and discovered there is no substitute for a decent pair of wool socks.

*As a native Bostonian, I reserve the right to use "wicked" as a weather descriptor.

*My miniature schnauzer’s name is the same as Cary Grant’s birth name. (The first person to email me the correct answer wins an EWA coffee mug… as soon as I get mine.)

There is one more thing you should know about me: I believe education isn’t just one of the most challenging beats, it’s also one of the most important. The long-range economic and social well-being of any community depends heavily on the academic success of its children. As education writers, our job is to help readers understand the challenges confronting schools, and show why they should care.

At the same time, we are trying to surf a tide of new federal initiatives, budget crises at every level and ever-shrinking newsrooms. I hope this blog will help you navigate some of those rocky currents.

So, where are you going next?
 
Have a question, comment or confidential concern for the Educated Reporter? Drop me a line at erichmond@ewa.org. I’m also on Twitter @EWAEmily.