Adviser Update
RESPECT
Continued from page 5A
Continued from page 7A
cyan
black
P01.V52.I4
will receive a per diem for program-related
absences. Travel and accommodations for
the Teacher of the Year will be provided by
the Fund and program sponsors.
A senior at the Teacher of the Year’s high
school will receive a $1,000 college scholarship to pursue journalism studies. One
student at each of the four Distinguished
Advisers’ schools will receive $500 college
scholarships.
Nominees must have at least three
years of experience teaching high school
journalism or advising a newspaper, newsmagazine or news website, have taught or
advised during the 2011-2012 academic
year and plan to continue in 2012-2013.
The one-page application form should be
accompanied by a résumé, a high-resolution
color head shot of the teacher, and six sets
of two issues of the 2011-2012 school newspaper, newsmagazine or news website. No
more than three letters of support may be
submitted.
The nomination postmark deadline is
July 1.
The selection panel for 2012 will include
Manfull, professional journalists, college
educators and representatives of major
scholastic journalism groups.
Application forms can be downloaded
from the Programs and Forms sections of
the Fund’s website at https://www.newsfund.org. They can also be obtained from
DJNF, P.O. Box 300, Princeton, NJ 085430300, by calling 609-452-2820, or by sending an email message with name, mailing
address and telephone number to djnf@
dowjones.com.
magenta
TOY
article before publishing. He was pleased at
how the article was written.
The next few days proved interesting.
Because he knew what was to be printed,
he was able to calm, quiet and deter any
questions patrons and students had about
the incident being published in the paper. I
had students come to me wanting nothing
said in the paper about the incident. My
response was the article was approved by
the principal. This quelled any questions
they may have had. It also alleviated me of
having to defend the paper.
As advisers, we teach our students to be
journalists. We teach everything from writing, designing and press rights, to interviewing and problem-solving. But sometimes we miss one of the most valuable
lessons in journalism. This lesson is mutual
respect and trust, which is a two-way
street. Mutual respect and trust must be
earned. It needs to be nurtured. If attained,
it needs constant maintenance.
But how do we gain that mutual respect
and trust from our readers and our administrators? Reporters need to be credible.
They need to do their research, learn the
facts, sort through the sensational, and be
sensitive to the issues in their community.
They need to inform their readers, but not
sensationalize stories. Although we do not
want prior review, we need to give administrators a heads-up so they know what’s
in store when the paper is printed. When
administrators are blind-sided by stories in
the newspaper, that’s when mutual respect
and trust disintegrates. Administrators
can be friend or foe. It is a better working
environment when an administrator supports the adviser and the journalism staff ’s
efforts in the classroom as well as in the
media.
When mutual respect and trust is
established between teacher and student, between reporters and readers, and
between advisers and administrators, the
entire community, in and out of school, is
well-served.
Page 11A
yellow
and the paper was printed with the article.
After the paper was delivered, nothing was
said. Everyone already knew about the
incident.
That principal eventually retired and
the assistant principal became the principal. He has been the principal for the last
12 years. Over these years, we have had
our ups and downs. At one point, he wanted
to know other schools’ policy in their journalism publications. After he made several
phone calls, he realized that we were the
only school in our state district that had
a paper. All the other schools either shut
down their papers or never started one up.
This changed his perspective. Suddenly, we
were great because we had an active school
paper in competition with larger schools
with newspapers in the area.
Just recently, another incident occurred
in the school district. A principal at one
of the school buildings was arrested and
arraigned on sexual abuse charges of a
minor. Because this is a small community,
many friends, family and colleagues were
affected by this incident. The principal
resigned and our assistant principal was
assigned to finish the year at that building.
A teacher who is an administrative intern
and the athletic director were assigned to
take on the assistant principal’s duties. In
meeting with my staffers, it was decided
that the story should stem from the angle of
losing our assistant principal and the reassignment of those to take over his duties.
The principal came to talk to me about
our coverage. I explained to him the angle
that was to be taken. Because of our history, he was confident that we would be
discreet yet factual about the incident.
After the article was written, although we