| Topics: Civic Communication Bradenton Herald
Community Voices: Search for A Superintendent When the local school superintendent retired after 11 years, the Herald focused simmering conversations about problems in the school system with an outreach project. The paper invited interested citizens to the paper to talk and sent reporters to hold extended conversations in "places where public opinion bubbles up" — including Wednesday-night church groups and PTO meetings. Concurrently, the school board had launched a national superintendent search rather than accept the coach-turned-administrator suggested by the outgoing superintendent as his successor. As the paper further detailed citizen concerns raised in the meetings, and supplemented the initial opinion with extensive reporting in the community, the school board established a citizen advisory panel to nominate and interview the top candidates. A case study by Project on Public Life and the Press
New York University, Department of Journalism,10 Washington Pl.
New York, NY 10003, (212) 998-3793 © Project on Public Life and the Press,1994 The Project is funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Bradenton Herald (newspaper)
102 Manatee Ave. W.
Bradenton, Fla., 34205
(813) 748-0411 Ownership
Knight Ridder Inc.
no. newsroom employees: 65 Circulation
43,000 (daily)
52,500 (Sunday)
circulation area(population)
Manatee County (150,000) Initiative
Community Voices: Search for A Superintendent Dates
April-October 1994 Executive in charge
Wayne Poston, executive editor Online clip availability:
Dialog; America Online in Mercury Center News library. When and how did this initiative get started?
Basic journalistic awareness that concerns about the school system crossed a broad segment of the area's residents sparked the initial meetings. Interest in schools has been strong for years, as evidenced by a record of successful school bond measures. An influx of younger residents with children has brought down the county's average age from 67 in 1974 to 44 today; though still heavily populated by retirees from the Midwest, Bradenton defies what Executive Editor Wayne Poston calls "the popular misconception that retirees have no stake in education and don't care about it. They will pay and they do have a stake." What were the goals of the initiative?
To make sure that citizens had a hand in setting the agenda for the future of the area's schools, and "to stimulate a deliberative conversation about this decision," said Wayne Poston. What did the initiative entail?
After the superintendent resigned, the paper immediately announced plans for two community meetings to discuss the superintendent post and issues about schools. The meetings, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, were announced in stories and promoted in house ads. Reporters covered the meetings, each of which drew about 40 people from various sectors of the community, highlighting the repeated call for a candidate search extending beyond the current administration. To track other issues raised in the initial sessions, staff from across the newsroom fanned out across the community, not only attending meetings of existing community groups, but also setting up booths at a half-dozen spots in the community "where people go and talk about community events," including the local waterfront festival and a large flea market. Dozens of people stopped to talk with reporters at the booths, which carried signs saying "Talk to us about education." Education reporters tracked the superintendent search process. When the candidate field narrowed to two, a reporter went to each one's home community and also reviewed each the candidate's doctoral dissertation. How many people worked on it?
Most of the newsroom was involved at some point in the effort, Poston said. What did it look like in the newspaper?
Extensive play for stories, placed on 1A and the local section front, with substantive jumps. Response to the Initiative In the newsroom:
The effort was viewed, essentially, as another in an ongoing series of efforts to incorporate citizen perspectives into regular news coverage, Poston said. "Because we've had a pretty good community connection, this was just a different spin on we what usually do... We're dealing with non-traditional news sources, people out there who have opinions and thoughts bubbling a little under the surface, and we ask it to blossom and grow." In the community:
In meetings and in interviews at the outreach sites, area residents were responsive to the opportunity to talk about the future of the school system. However, the idea of looking outside the system for a superintendent "didn't play with politically connected people and there was a real controversy in the community," Poston said. Among political leaders:
The school board set up a citizen advisory panel for the search process. Its members interviewed candidates and reported back to the board members, who in turn used the reports in their own interviews with finalists. What's next:
Area residents are pushing the paper to incorporate similar approaches on an ongoing, everyday basis. When the county administrator interviewed for another job in Ohio this fall, a "guy called out of the blue" and urged Poston to tackle behind-the-scenes problems in county government. Poston recalled the conversation: "He said we need to solve some of the problems we have that won't let good people do their best work and get the community moving as it should. You are the only institution that can do that. You proved that with the school superintendent and the Voices." (See separate research report on Voices of Florida, a collaborative effort among six newspapers covering the 1994 statewide elections.) Case study written by Lisa Austin, Assistant Director of the Project on Public Life and the Press, March 1994. Lisa is also a member of the CPN Journalism editorial team. More Information Project on Public Life and the Press
New York University
Department of Journalism
10 Washington Pl.
New York, NY 10003
(212) 998-3793 Back to Communication Index | 
