Your front-page article in last month's issue, "Middle-Schooler Uses 'Shank' on Another Student," was an extremely disappointing piece of journalism. The headline - feeling more British tabloid then respected newspaper - selectively pulls out the word "shank" and goes on to use the term "suspect" with a purposely selected picture of Madrona K-8 [School] focusing on the "Weapons Free Zone" sign that shows a gun and knife (all schools have these silly signs). Yes, very dramatic indeed.
The school uniforms are blue, but your readers likely perceived them to be orange, based on the angle taken in the story. Every school district in every decade has incidents in middle schools where fights break out due to the natural tension at this awkward age. These same tensions exist in Seattle schools today, even in the schools that are predominately white, leading one to the unfortunate conclusion that racism plays a part in your article. It feeds it, waters it.
Your perspective unfairly slams the image of a school and its children and families - the words "shank" and "suspect" and "weapons" as headlines reinforce it. It may not be intentional racism, but at the very minimum, it is certainly reckless journalism.
While your article focuses inaccurately on the term "shank" (slang for an object shaped into a weapon in prison settings) as quoted by a student and wants the reader to believe this is the first time anything like this has ever happened at a public school, the officers accurately report it was a scissor (something found in all schools). No one was hurt in the 10-second boasting incident, although your headline suggests something else.
Did your article report the number of expulsions or incidents at other schools? Does your reporter know that one of the "suspects" recently was honored for his community-service efforts? Your coverage implies that no one cares for these "details"; after all, these are just Madrona students also known as "suspects" with "shanks," violating the no "weapons" sign and making it a dangerous place to be. Very dramatic indeed.
THE REAL DRAMA
Heightened stereotyping of schools and their students has a painful history in the Seattle neighborhood-playground rumor mill, the local neighborhood list servs and in parents' school choice. The demographic statistics demonstrate that while Seattle loves its diversity, there is no school in Seattle that has a majority of African Americans enrolled and more than 10 percent white students. Your article, focused on the sensational, feeds the false stereotypes of these wonderful schools, students and families.
Madrona K-8, specifically, has not been well-served by the local media; the actual headlines are negative, ridiculous and sensationalized: "Race/Class Splinter School," "Swine Flu Epidemic," and now "Shank Used on Student." Focusing on the sensational is too easy, and it is lazy.
This story certainly did not merit front-page status even in the slowest of news cycles. There are fascinating and interesting stories at Madrona that will tug at the reader's heart and bring a different perspective to what life is really like for others in our community.
Below are some suggested stories (there are so many more) that tell the tale of the kind of real drama that exists in our communities and for families at Madrona K-8:
•Madrona Girl Scouts grow veggies in school garden to feed the homeless - Girl Scout troops are offered for all grades and participate in a special science program pilot sponsored by the National Girl Scouts.
•Madrona Ultimate Frisbee team goes undefeated and wins the city championship (two of the last three years) in a sport typically played by non-minorities (provided for sensational consistency).
•Madrona boasts highest writing scores on WASL - On Oct. 30, Madrona K-8 student writers were selected to introduce authors Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson [and] Eoin Colfer at the Spotlight Stage at the University Village Barnes & Noble. These student writers are evidence of the strong writing program at Madrona K-8.
The 2009 eighth-grade graduating class at Madrona earned the highest writing scores on the WASL in the entire Seattle Public Schools (stats released last fall). Any of the local media could have picked up on the story of how a low-income minority school could have the best writers in the entire city, but no one has.
•Madrona girls' middle-school soccer team wins first games in history, fielding a team on which most girls have never played soccer before, playing against predominately non-minority schools that are filled with club soccer players (again, sensational consistency).
And in a great showing of community spirit, when another school saw that many of the Madrona girls did not have shin guards, socks or cleats, they donated them. The locally based International Soccer School offered an instructor to assist the team.
The team wins three of its last four games!
•New student assignment plan brings big changes to all Seattle schools and families but calms everyone down with the grandfather clause: You can stay in the school you are currently enrolled. Unfortunately, the grandfather clause doesn't really help low-income families as transportation may not be provided for them to stay at their current school. Ironically, all AP students are guaranteed transportation no matter where they live.
•Madrona boldly extends the school day for 2009-2010 and offers enrichment classes, such as slimy science, honors math, drama, chess and many other academic and fun extras.
SHARE THE UNTOLD STORIES
There are so many wonderful untold stories in our school communities. Anyone reading this article can think of something extraordinary that has happened in their school community, something significant that has had an impact on someone's life. These are the types of stories that our local media should spend some time investigating, capturing and sharing with all. Let's leave the sensationalizing and stereotyping to the tabloids and blogosphere.
Jon Hughes is the school's PTSA vice president.[[In-content Ad]]
