Update: Letters to the Editor

My letter to the editor to the WAVE this week did not make it into the paper. I'm not sure if this is because I sent it in too late or because of a glitch with the "contact us" form.

I have submitted it to the Cape Gazette as well and have sent it off to the School Superintendent and asked her to deliver copies to the School Board members.

There was good coverage of the issue in the WAVE, however, including a full story, and two letters to the editor (Don't tell us that we are a program, not a school and Mitchell owes SDSA an apology).

I was glad to see the WAVE reporter note that there was "A crowd of approximately 600 people, split into two rooms," rather than the "more than 50" people originally reported.

I think I know where that earlier, lower number came from. I can see a reporter asking a school district official how many people were at the meeting:

"I don't know, we didn't count them."

"Well, can you give me an estimate?"

"No."

"Well, were there more than 50?"

"Yes, I guess it would be accurate to say that."

And, as a result, that "estimate" became part of the lead of several newspaper stories and made it into the Associated Press version of the story, which is what most of the radio news readers "rip and read" for their local news.