Thank you for your thorough reporting. It adds nuance and some perspective where it was lacking in the less than stellar stories other news outlets have released.
Thank you Lisa. I appreciate that. The situation always bothered me because I felt like nobody, including me, was privy to the whole story. And I'm not sure we got it yet, but we at least generally know the perspectives of those involved.
“Yet at no point did any of the students, or anyone else…”
One point of correction here. The students tried repeatedly to present their side of the story. The Instagram account was their last ditch effort to be heard. Several students spoke out against the allegations at school board meetings, students repeatedly wrote and emailed members of the administration and the school board to present corrections and to seek out information, students contacted other media outlets for interviews, and they spoke up in defense of Perkins all across social media. For their efforts, they were ignored, metaphorically patted on the head and told to let the adults handle things, accused of being racists and bigots, and told that they were “victims who didn’t know it yet.” All but one of the media interviews (his daughter’s interview with WAOW) disappeared into the void. Instead of asking why they didn’t speak up, a better question is to ask why you were unaware of how hard they tried. Why were they silenced from every quarter?
Well, no one reached out to me, no contact was left on the instagram post where people could get in touch with someone for the other side of the story; even Perkins' daughter never reached out to me. I would have happily spoken to any students who wanted to share their side of the story. It always bothers me, and it bothered me a lot here, that we were only hearing one side. When the students spoke up at the school board meeting, I covered it (they talked about Perkins in general but none that I recalled spoke on the actual issue). When they made the instagram post, I covered that, even taking the steps to independently verify it. I reached out through a confidential source to let Perkins, or any band students, know that I would be available to speak to them. I would have loved to. I heard nothing. The best I could do was obtain these records.
I appreciate the comment and additional information. I would have had no way of knowing they had reached out to other media outlets. I have no idea why they apparently, according to your account, reached out to every other publication but not me. I absolutely would have listened and it would not have disappeared into the void. We could have gotten to the bottom of this issue much earlier, or at least gotten a clearer picture. If this story doesn't signal that my desire is to get to the bottom of complicated situations, I don't know what is.
Thank you for your thorough reporting. It adds nuance and some perspective where it was lacking in the less than stellar stories other news outlets have released.
Thank you Lisa. I appreciate that. The situation always bothered me because I felt like nobody, including me, was privy to the whole story. And I'm not sure we got it yet, but we at least generally know the perspectives of those involved.
This is real journalism. Great work at digging through all the material.
Thank you Jeff, I appreciate the comment!
Thank you for this.
Thank you for the comment!
“Yet at no point did any of the students, or anyone else…”
One point of correction here. The students tried repeatedly to present their side of the story. The Instagram account was their last ditch effort to be heard. Several students spoke out against the allegations at school board meetings, students repeatedly wrote and emailed members of the administration and the school board to present corrections and to seek out information, students contacted other media outlets for interviews, and they spoke up in defense of Perkins all across social media. For their efforts, they were ignored, metaphorically patted on the head and told to let the adults handle things, accused of being racists and bigots, and told that they were “victims who didn’t know it yet.” All but one of the media interviews (his daughter’s interview with WAOW) disappeared into the void. Instead of asking why they didn’t speak up, a better question is to ask why you were unaware of how hard they tried. Why were they silenced from every quarter?
Well, no one reached out to me, no contact was left on the instagram post where people could get in touch with someone for the other side of the story; even Perkins' daughter never reached out to me. I would have happily spoken to any students who wanted to share their side of the story. It always bothers me, and it bothered me a lot here, that we were only hearing one side. When the students spoke up at the school board meeting, I covered it (they talked about Perkins in general but none that I recalled spoke on the actual issue). When they made the instagram post, I covered that, even taking the steps to independently verify it. I reached out through a confidential source to let Perkins, or any band students, know that I would be available to speak to them. I would have loved to. I heard nothing. The best I could do was obtain these records.
I appreciate the comment and additional information. I would have had no way of knowing they had reached out to other media outlets. I have no idea why they apparently, according to your account, reached out to every other publication but not me. I absolutely would have listened and it would not have disappeared into the void. We could have gotten to the bottom of this issue much earlier, or at least gotten a clearer picture. If this story doesn't signal that my desire is to get to the bottom of complicated situations, I don't know what is.
Just the facts. Great story and research unlike the other local biased online -- which they claim to be non biased. Thanks Wausonian.
Thanks Mark, I appreciate the comment!