There are multiple parts to this Try It!
1. Develop a list of at least five questions that you think a reporter should ask to clarify points raised at the meeting in this scenario.
Then explain at least three ways you would use social media to enhance an online news story about this Try It’s scenario.
Then demonstrate your understanding of the rules by using the exercise scenario's information to write several paragraphs containing a direct quote, a summarized statement, and a paraphrased statement that could be used in the body of a news story about the scenario.
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Meeting Story Practice Exercise4 ver. 2
You’re covering a 7 p.m. meeting of the Harkensville School Board on the second
Tuesday of the month. The meeting is being held in the auditorium of Woodrow J.
Harkensville High School. Here are your notes from the meeting:
- Board begins with discussion of the cleanup at Fayetteville Elementary School. Two
weeks earlier the dam for the hatchery at the Forke Weir
oke, flooding the city’s
Parksburg and Fayetteville neighborhoods. Water gushed through several of the
school’s ground-floor classrooms, including the occupational therapy room. School
Principal Jannetta Wohlinsky says repairs are proceeding on schedule but that they
won’t be finished before school lets out for the summer. The school’s air conditioning
unit for the ground floor needs to be replaced at a cost of $12,000. She says that the
furniture, books and supplies in the rooms were ruined by the water and mud and also
must be replaced. Estimated cost: $20,000. The OT equipment has been cleaned.
Wohlinsky says the first- and second-grade classes in those rooms have been
temporarily moved to the cafeteria. “The teachers are coping,” she says. “It’s all an
adventure to the students.” Newly elected school board president Jerome Sharp asks
about the nonfunctioning air conditioning unit. Wohlinsky says some of the teachers are
taking their classes outside in the afternoons to escape the buildup of heat in the
cafeteria.
- Theodora Jenkins, principal of Woodrow J. Harkensville High School, gave an update
on work on the school’s new computer lab. She says the lab, which is being installed as
an addition to the school’s li
ary, is behind schedule and won’t be completed for two
months. Estimated cost of the lab: $235,000. Sharp questioned the expenditure. He
wanted to know why the school district was spending money on PCs rather than
equipping classrooms with Chromebooks. Jenkins said the decision to upgrade the
computer lab was approved three years earlier. Sharp: “But teenagers don’t need a lab.
They don’t need stand-alone computers. What are they, Macs? This is what I mean by
wrong-headed fiscal policy.”
- Board hears a proposal from local resident Tamara Jackson, member of a group
called Creation Science Ministry at the Harkensville Spiritual Life Center. Jackson
presents the board with a petition bearing 800 signatures from Harkensville County
esidents asking that creationism be included in the science cu
iculum of all
Harkensville County Public Schools. Jackson: “Evolution is just a theory. Students
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should be exposed to all the major theories in the life sciences.” Several people in the
audience boo or applaud. At least 50 are sitting in the audience.
- Richard Bohr, a science teacher at Woodrow J. Harkensville High School, jumps up
and shouts to be recognized: “Creationism is pseudo-science and I will not teach it in
my classes!” He is red in the face and visibly agitated. Angela Artesia, another science
teacher at Cromwall Middle School, shouts from her seat: “Keep religion out of the
schools!” Sharp starts banging his gavel to quiet the crowd. Sharp: “This is the 21st
century, Ms. Jackson. Our students need STEM skills that will help our businesses and
industries compete with companies from around the world. They won’t be able to do that
if we teach them nonsense.” Sharp gets a mixture of boos and applause.
- School board member Melinda DiCarlo inte
upted Sharp: “This is not for us to settle.
The state has to approve our cu
iculum.” Michael Moretti, another member of the
school board, responds: “Why do we need the state to dictate what we can and cannot
teach in our classrooms?” The board votes 5-2 to table the matter for further discussion.
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