You have a right to know why we aren’t publishing the alleged school district texts
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
We get letters — or more correctly, it being the 21st Century, we get emails.
Many of late have asked us to keep publishing stories on the Coatesville Area School District and the resignation of Superintendent of Schools Richard Como and Coatesville Area High School Athletic Director James Donato.
We really appreciate your thoughts and comments, your continued encouragement and private emails and calls with information to help us report this story — we can’t thank you enough for your support and input, it’s an editor’s dream to have that sort of relationship with a community.
And yes, we’re aware of the story in The Daily Local News today which publishes excerpts of alleged text messages between school administrators. And while the DLN feels they have enough sourcing and documentation to publish the excerpts, I don’t feel we’ve reached that threshold for The Times.
Maybe it is because they have better sources; maybe its because the folks working the story for the DLN have less months experience as professional journalists than our team has years experience (ironic that the “new media” folks would be the old-school journalists with decades of experience and that the unproven kids would be at the corporate “old media” outlet, I guess).
Look, there’s a high probability that what was published today is correct — and if so, basically, the entire school board needs to resign — we’ve been told many of the same things. But maybe because I was a cub reporter, bureau chief and editor in the 1980s (ironically, again, at a previous version of the company that owns the DLN) and was taught by grizzled veterans who came up in the 1950s, there’s too much supposition, too much false information out there for me to feel like what we have right now should be published.
And this has to be done right. As we feel strongly that there is more to come, much more, to be honest, we have to strive every day to get it dead right. One missed step, one rush to judgment here and we’ll lose creditability and trust. Maybe more importantly, fairness matters, too.
The texts quoted today in the DLN contain terrible, awful comments. And yes, the phone numbers do match known phone numbers of CASD administrators — more than just the two who resigned. Publish this and be wrong, and careers are permanently ruined.
So it has to be absolutely confirmed.
But, while we trust the source that supplied them, we can’t absolutely vouch for their authenticity.
It’s too easy to just create something like that — and even if the source that provided them to us has every reason to think they are legitimate, we need to see what they call in the justice system, a chain of custody, proof of the original source and proof that it wasn’t altered between then and our getting it. I’ve been provided fake documents in the past on other stories — only care and prudence kept me from publishing really wrong stuff.
If the DLN got that, hats off to them.
It would be highly irresponsible to run it, though, without that, as first, it would inflame a community already angry and on-edge and second, be potentially damaging to those implicated, should down the road the document prove to be manufactured.
But again, whatever your take on this issue, a lot of the blame falls on the school board and administration here, which has stonewalled the media (when not blaming it) and the public when it rightfully asks questions. And yes, with each passing day, it becomes more and more apparent that at various times in recent weeks members of the administration and school board have less than honest with us in discussion what they knew and when.
Clearly, our Right To Know requests have been stonewalled without legal merit, begging litigation, which we will likely be forced, unfortunately, to undertake in the coming weeks. I met with our attorney Friday to discuss our plan of action and should have more to report on that in the coming days.
Which, of course, leads to the question of why? What are they hiding, what are they covering up for?
And as much as the texting issue — if accurate — is reprehensible, the answers to those questions may prove shocking.
We will be there to keep asking those questions, we hope you will be, too.
Mrs. Nelson, this article is not sour grapes. Mr. McGann is absolutely correct. You must have the true facts. I know from personal experience that the DLN does NOT verify their source and make sure the facts are correct. They crucified me in their paper when I was an administrator in the CASD. My PTO board members defended me when they requested a meeting withe a DLN reporter. The damage was done. Two DISGUSTING administrators and the Board have done all this damage to CASD. I knew Como very well and he should NEVER have been appointed supt. let alone have his contact renewed three times!
There are excellent teachers and employees in CASD. Unfortunately, the students, teachers, employees and the community are the ones to suffer, unless you and the taxpayers do something about it. Hold the school board members accountable and replace them with one who will do their job responsibly, morally, and ethically. The parents and taxpayers must do their duty also, by voting, attending the meetings and QUESTION, QUESTION, QUESTION!
this post reeks of SOUR GRAPES. Better luck next time Chesco times.