{"id":15003,"date":"2016-05-26T14:00:44","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T18:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=15003"},"modified":"2016-05-27T16:52:48","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T20:52:48","slug":"tv-report-misses-the-real-picture-at-cash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=15003","title":{"rendered":"TV report misses the real picture at CASH"},"content":{"rendered":"

WPVI went sensationalist, but the facts are more complicated<\/em><\/h2>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"UTMikeColLogoThe video on Channel 6 last night was, if nothing else, attention grabbing, detailing fights at Coatesville Area High School\u2019s 9\/10 Center.<\/p>\n

Was it good journalism? Well, that probably is a matter of debate. The breathless story led Wednesday night\u2019s WPVI newscast at 6 p.m. and showed a series of smart phone videos of fights at the 9\/10 center.<\/p>\n

It is a story we\u2019ve been working on for some time, similar issues have been reported at Scott Middle School, not to mention more troubling incidents we\u2019ve heard about at other district schools \u2014 but context is clearly part of the problem here. Were those fights from a single day? A week? A month? We don\u2019t know from the TV report. The claims that teachers fear being fired for reporting fights is not credible \u2014 as unionized teachers, termination is a long, difficult process and its pretty clear union leadership would stand up for any teacher threatened in such a way and do so publicly.<\/p>\n

Nuance, facts and details are often lost on TV talking heads who parachute into a story, lack context and run for the shock value, rather than seek to tell the truth, even if it is complicated and even a little boring. As one student put it, talking to us today, the TV report was unfair, saying that he didn\u2019t see fights in the building and the report left him frustrated and angry at the way his school was portrayed on TV. We didn\u2019t see that side of the story on TV.<\/p>\n

That having been said, the response from the Coatesville Area School District, initially to the report and now today is, to be polite, wanting.<\/p>\n

An excerpt from the statement sent out to the community today by Superintendent Dr. Cathy Taschner:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe report was filed in response to videos that were not recent, and to a story that we have addressed numerous times with various newspapers, at School Board meetings, community forums, and in notes,\u201d Taschner wrote. \u201cContrary to what was reported\u00a0fights are not daily realities in our buildings. I was saddened that the responses provided to the media were not all shared in the story.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to assure you that our police officers, security guards, administrators\u00a0are indeed instructed to break up fights, and an employee would never be reprimanded, fired, or have their job impacted in any way if they report a concern about fighting or anything else, for that matter. Similarly, our teachers and staff are supported when they elect to step in to quell a disturbance.<\/p>\n

Immediately after this went out, local social media flared Thursday with claims of multiple fights and a lockdown of a district school. District sources initially confirmed to us that at least three incidents had occurred at the 9\/10 center Thursday, but no lockdown \u2014 and that it appeared a number of parents were at the school to take their children out, concerned about their safety, possibly prompted by the social media storm. The district later said two incidents \u2014 and only one a physical altercation \u2014 took place this morning.<\/p>\n

But is that a factor of the TV report inspiring bad behavior and panic or is it business as usual in the building?<\/p>\n

Let us suggest a few facts: teenagers often act like idiots. They get into stupid tussles, fights and disputes, some of which are caught by school officials and some of which are not. This has been the truth for quite a while \u2014 but we now see it because virtually every student roaming the halls has a smartphone.<\/p>\n

But another fact: CASD is really terrible about dealing with the media (and by extension, the community) \u2014 needing multiple calls from WPVI to respond to things is sadly par for the course in our dealings with Taschner and the rest of the district, not to mention the Board of Education\u2019s ongoing refusal to speak to the media.<\/p>\n

Is Coatesville alone in that regard? No. Downingtown Area School District is even harder to work with \u2014 even on positive stories. However, most of the other school districts in the county are happy to work with us \u2014 happy to talk about their schools and students, so the behavior of both districts often leave us puzzled and frustrated.<\/p>\n

That lack of public accountability has contributed to an atmosphere of public distrust in Coatesville \u2014 so even when district administrators are right or have a point, folks in the community don\u2019t trust or believe them. And as quickly as CASD folks like to point the finger at the media, the blame falls squarely on them \u2014 we\u2019ve bent over backwards, been careful and judicious (to the extent of being attacked at times for allegedly protecting the administration) to make sure what we print is fair and accurate.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not in it for a quick buck \u2014 we\u2019re not owned by a hedge fund or operated to make quarterly profit numbers. We live here and pay taxes here \u2014 our News Editor, Lauren Parker-Gill lives in the district and sends her children to school there, and my wife and I own a commercial property in the district and pay taxes.<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s take it as a given that some level of chaos exists in any high school and district officials stink at communicating what\u2019s really going on \u2014 the question becomes \u201chow much\u201d and \u201chow is it being handled?\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, a bit of context and perspective is in order. Back in the old days of former Superintendent Richard Como, the theory was \u201cwhen in doubt, toss \u2018em out.\u201d Coatesville expelled a lot of students \u2014 typically more than the rest of the county combined. Instead of focusing on keeping kids in school to get with the program, graduate and become useful members of society, they were tossed out the door to become high-round draft picks for local drug operations, which did nothing to help the local crime rate.<\/p>\n

Taschner clearly has a different take on the matter \u2014 that keeping kids in school is probably better. The question many are asking is whether keeping the kids in school is about producing better citizens or making for better stats and optics for the school district.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been told a number of troubling tales \u2014 some of which we\u2019re in the process of verifying \u2014 others of which seem to have little or no basis beyond rumor. When we asked Fonz Newsaun, who leads The Movement \u2014 the group that has been vocally critical of Taschner, to cite sources for his many accusations his response was to send us a smiley face emoticon, something not likely to instill our confidence in him as a source. We are also aware of efforts, being pushed by former district administrators to undermine and oust Taschner, as they felt they should have gotten the job when Como was ousted.<\/p>\n

Allegations such as these must be carefully and thoroughly vetted and investigated. Being first with a story is never our policy if it means being wrong or sloppy.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that there aren\u2019t reasons for concern. We\u2019ve been told of a couple of alleged incidents in recent months, if the accounts are true, that represent issues worse than a lack of discipline in the schools, but rather obstruction of justice and neglect if not outright child abuse. We continue to work through various sources, including local law enforcement, to see if the allegations have merit.<\/p>\n

As is often the case, the truth is a lot more complicated than two minutes of breathless video, a Facebook post or a tweet. We continue to work to find it and welcome anyone who wishes to come forward tell us \u2014 and better yet \u2014 show documentation for the issues so many seem to feel are real.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WPVI went sensationalist, but the facts are more complicated By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times The video on Channel 6 last night was, if nothing else, attention grabbing, detailing fights at Coatesville Area High School\u2019s 9\/10 Center. Was it good journalism? Well, that probably is a matter of debate. The breathless story led Wednesday night\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2514,6269,7452,7453,5338],"class_list":["post-15003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-coatesville-area-high-school","tag-featured","tag-fights","tag-rumors","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15003"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15042,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15003\/revisions\/15042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}