Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506060014
SECTION: EDITORIALS PAGE: D-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WILLIAM K. WARREN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The delegation was headed by representatives of the Student Government Association. Clearly upset, they wanted a public apology from this newspaper and the author of the three-part series, Beth Macy.
The details of their complaints are in a letter accompanying this article. The letter is signed by student Candace Beamer and "other representatives of the William Fleming SGA." Candace also submitted a separate letter, as did Syreeta Martin, senior class president.
The students acknowledged that truancy is a problem, but they said the articles unfairly singled out Fleming.
Some administrators of the city school system agree with them. A few days following their visit, reporter Macy received a letter signed by Lissy K. Runyon, public-information officer for the schools. The letter asserts the articles did not make a clear distinction between absenteeism and truancy, that the articles unfairly focused on city schools only, and that our reporter went on the grounds of Fleming without permission.
Earlier last week, Macy wrote Alyce Szathmary, Fleming principal, to explain her report on truancy.
"... I did not set out to discriminate against your school in any way. I simply set out to talk to some area truants - near both high schools - but happened to find more near your school than Patrick Henry. I know this is partly because of the geography of the two schools: your school is surrounded by more businesses and places for kids to hang out than Patrick Henry." (Beth says she selected city schools for the story because statistics showed nonattendance and dropout rates are much higher in those schools. The percentage of high-school students who missed more than 10 days from school in 1993-94 was 53 percent for Roanoke city and 24 percent for Roanoke County; the state average was 35 percent, according to the Virginia Department of Education.)
A little history: Fleming students, faculty and administrators have long felt their school does not receive a fair shake in the press - print and electronic. Just last year, this newspaper printed a series on teen pregnancy that featured some Fleming students, prompting similar complaints.
So there was more than a little hostility in the air as I talked with the Fleming students in the news conference room at the Times-World building downtown.
But there also was civility and reason, as the students used specific facts and figures to make their arguments. They wanted to know why we emphasize the negative rather than the positive. I told them we try to report on the exceptional - negative and positive.
That explains why this newspaper doesn't report on a lot of "routine" positive accomplishments, but it doesn't explain why we don't do more reporting on "exceptional" accomplishments.
And the students in the news conference-room had a lot of examples of those: collection and distribution of gifts for the needy at Christmas; visits with babies of drug addicts at local hospitals as part of a March of Dimes project; a beautification project at the high school in which students not only got involved, but got their hands dirty as well.
They are proud of their school, and they are angry that their pride - and the reasons for it - are not communicated by the media to the public.
They have a good point. Newspapers have a responsibility to report on problems such as teen pregnancy and truancy. We don't apologize for that and will continue to do it. That's one of the ways a community identifies and solves those problems.
But we should be just as diligent in reporting on exceptional achievement. That's one of the ways a community identifies and reinforces the kind of behavior most of us want.
I was a witness May 26 to an excellent example of that kind of behavior. A group of students stood up to us - the newspaper - and said: Hey, we're helping the needy, we're improving our school, and we attend our classes. What about us?
They wanted our attention. They got it.
William K. Warren is managing editor of this newspaper.
by CNB