MoCo360/formerly Bethesda Magazine and Em Espy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I wished there would be deeper reporting looking into crucial issues within MCPS. For example:

1) MCPS has had a huge spike in overdoses at schools. Does MCPS have a long term plan on how to keep drugs from being sold and used at MCPS schools?

2) In school staffing shortages including general ed teachers, special ed teachers, counselors, para educators, and school psychologists - how many vacancies were not filled this past school year, the impact on students, and does MCPS have a plan to become fully staff for next school year?

3) Special Education issues - how well have special needs students recovered from pandemic learning loss, how many students were offered and received compensatory services, status on central office search for core leadership?

You should contact Em or other reporters and ask them to look into these questions.

Some of us have about some of those items, and have heard crickets

Yes, that's how it works. You suggest stories, reporters and their editors decide whether/how to cover them.

It doesn’t work that way at all. Producers and editors decide what will sell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I wished there would be deeper reporting looking into crucial issues within MCPS. For example:

1) MCPS has had a huge spike in overdoses at schools. Does MCPS have a long term plan on how to keep drugs from being sold and used at MCPS schools?

2) In school staffing shortages including general ed teachers, special ed teachers, counselors, para educators, and school psychologists - how many vacancies were not filled this past school year, the impact on students, and does MCPS have a plan to become fully staff for next school year?

3) Special Education issues - how well have special needs students recovered from pandemic learning loss, how many students were offered and received compensatory services, status on central office search for core leadership?

You should contact Em or other reporters and ask them to look into these questions.

Some of us have about some of those items, and have heard crickets

Yes, that's how it works. You suggest stories, reporters and their editors decide whether/how to cover them.

It doesn’t work that way at all. Producers and editors decide what will sell.

Are you agreeing or disagreeing? It sounds to me like you're agreeing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally I wished there would be deeper reporting looking into crucial issues within MCPS. For example:

1) MCPS has had a huge spike in overdoses at schools. Does MCPS have a long term plan on how to keep drugs from being sold and used at MCPS schools?

2) In school staffing shortages including general ed teachers, special ed teachers, counselors, para educators, and school psychologists - how many vacancies were not filled this past school year, the impact on students, and does MCPS have a plan to become fully staff for next school year?

3) Special Education issues - how well have special needs students recovered from pandemic learning loss, how many students were offered and received compensatory services, status on central office search for core leadership?

You should contact Em or other reporters and ask them to look into these questions.

Some of us have about some of those items, and have heard crickets

Yes, that's how it works. You suggest stories, reporters and their editors decide whether/how to cover them.

It doesn’t work that way at all. Producers and editors decide what will sell.

Are you agreeing or disagreeing? It sounds to me like you're agreeing.

Try reading and stop talking to yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Em doesn’t just shovel out what MCPS feeds them. I think they’re going to be very good, which probably means they won’t stay long.

Literally rewrites press releases. You have no idea what's been missed. Clearly ignoring major issues.

+1 Ask why MCPS refuses to release data or provide interviews. Ask what Central Office is trying to hide.

If Central Office is tight lipped, interview in school administrators and staff. Interview parents.

If the MCPS answer is that reporters can only have one source in the school system, that is not journalism. It’s just publishing MCPS propaganda.

[Anonymous]

That’s not on the Bethesda 360 reporter. I’m a journalist and try to interview administrators and teachers in the district, and they tell me they can get fired if they don’t have central office permission to speak. The district likes to handpick who speaks to reporters. I know several MCPS staff members who had their hand slapped for going rogue and talking to a reporter. Some will speak but only with anonymity.

[Anonymous]

Em's most recent education newsletter is elucidating. They talk about how MCPS requires public information requests in many situations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Em's most recent education newsletter is elucidating. They talk about how MCPS requires public information requests in many situations.

LOL and? That’s not new or unique to mcps. Actual reporters investigate. They don’t whine about doing their job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She definitely got a lot better during her time at BM. But for awhile she might as well been on the MCPS payroll. She would take a Jack Smith press release/memo and just hit copy/paste/submit. So much corruption and scandals that could have been dug into more during the Jack Smith era.

This is just nonsense.

It’s not far from the truth when you think back to the pandemic era, when Smith’s lies would go completely unchallenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Em's most recent education newsletter is elucidating. They talk about how MCPS requires public information requests in many situations.

LOL and? That’s not new or unique to mcps. Actual reporters investigate. They don’t whine about doing their job.

You're right, many public agencies try to stonewall reporters, not just MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That’s not on the Bethesda 360 reporter. I’m a journalist and try to interview administrators and teachers in the district, and they tell me they can get fired if they don’t have central office permission to speak. The district likes to handpick who speaks to reporters. I know several MCPS staff members who had their hand slapped for going rogue and talking to a reporter. Some will speak but only with anonymity.

This is normal in a large organization. I, too, am not allowed to speak on behalf of my employer despite being a senior manager. The only people allowed to speak to the media are the press team and the senior leadership. No big organization is let just anyone speak to the press.

I'm not a big MCPS booster (a relatively happy parent, but not a booster), but this idea that we should be shocked that random staff are not speaking to the press is pretty laughable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Em's most recent education newsletter is elucidating. They talk about how MCPS requires public information requests in many situations.

Do u think that is in response to this thread, us complaining about how they only parrot MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Em's most recent education newsletter is elucidating. They talk about how MCPS requires public information requests in many situations.

Do u think that is in response to this thread, us complaining about how they only parrot MCPS?

No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s not on the Bethesda 360 reporter. I’m a journalist and try to interview administrators and teachers in the district, and they tell me they can get fired if they don’t have central office permission to speak. The district likes to handpick who speaks to reporters. I know several MCPS staff members who had their hand slapped for going rogue and talking to a reporter. Some will speak but only with anonymity.

This is normal in a large organization. I, too, am not allowed to speak on behalf of my employer despite being a senior manager. The only people allowed to speak to the media are the press team and the senior leadership. No big organization is let just anyone speak to the press.

I'm not a big MCPS booster (a relatively happy parent, but not a booster), but this idea that we should be shocked that random staff are not speaking to the press is pretty laughable.

Private industry is not comparable to public government agencies. MCPS is a public school system funded by the county taxpayers. As such, there should be greater transparency.

If a reporter is constantly hitting roadblocks by MCPS when asking questions, that is a newsworthy issue to report about. What is the leadership trying to hide? Why are they reluctant to be transparent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s not on the Bethesda 360 reporter. I’m a journalist and try to interview administrators and teachers in the district, and they tell me they can get fired if they don’t have central office permission to speak. The district likes to handpick who speaks to reporters. I know several MCPS staff members who had their hand slapped for going rogue and talking to a reporter. Some will speak but only with anonymity.

This is normal in a large organization. I, too, am not allowed to speak on behalf of my employer despite being a senior manager. The only people allowed to speak to the media are the press team and the senior leadership. No big organization is let just anyone speak to the press.

I'm not a big MCPS booster (a relatively happy parent, but not a booster), but this idea that we should be shocked that random staff are not speaking to the press is pretty laughable.

Private industry is not comparable to public government agencies. MCPS is a public school system funded by the county taxpayers. As such, there should be greater transparency.

If a reporter is constantly hitting roadblocks by MCPS when asking questions, that is a newsworthy issue to report about. What is the leadership trying to hide? Why are they reluctant to be transparent?

DP but every public government agency has a spokesperson or department that speaks for the agency. No agency let any employee speaks on their behalf.

[Anonymous]

At least Dawn Iamannoying Hahn lost the election so no-one has to cover her looniness.