Meeting brief example

Hello. Katie was kind enough to let me post her brief as a strong example of what editors would be looking for when covering a meeting.

Seminole County School Board meeting brief

SANFORD-- The Seminole County School Board voted unanimously to approve nearly $21,000 in preconstruction costs for Lake Howell High School’s culinary arts program at its meeting tonight.

The approval was put on hold in November last year so the board could decide if it had the money to go through with the project, said Dede Shaffner, board chairman. The board originally proposed a half-cent tax raise to pay for the school repair, which voters rejected.

George Kosmac, deputy superintendent of operations, said the board approved $60,000 in architect fees last year for the project, some of which has already been spent. The renovations are currently estimated at about 750,000 tax dollars overall, he said, but the board won’t know the final cost for several weeks. Kosmac said members are hoping to complete renovations by August of this year.

“The program has grown so dramatically,” Shaffner said. “We have 700 kids in that program and we’re trying to get it completed before school starts.”

The school already has a building for its culinary arts classes, but renovations are necessary, said Shaune Storch, principal of Lake Howell High School. For example, one of the three culinary classrooms is a former art classroom and doesn’t have the necessary ventilation to support ovens and stoves.

The board will vote again on the final cost of the culinary building renovations in about a month and a half, Kosmac said.

Covering accidents

Election Resources

Here is a good resource for covering elections.

Here is another.

Here is a good resource for campaign finance questions.

Here is Orange County election information.

Here is Seminole County election information.

Covering elections

Budget Basics

Writing assignment for today

Hello all. Please ignore the information about the press release on your assignment sheet. It was a mistake. I copied & pasted from an old assignment sheet. I didn't give your class the press release. Thanks!

Covering local government

Local government story examples

Here is a city council story.

Here is a Public Works/City Council story. Here is another.

Here is an ordinance story.

Here is a zoning story.

Forms of City Government

There are three basic forms of local government - these are covered in chapter six.

1) Mayor-council
2) City manager-council

Here's a chart comparing/contrasting the two forms.

3) Commission - rarely used

Here's a link to one of the few cities that uses this form of government, Portland.

First beat story

Hello. Just a reminder that your first beat story is due today. Good luck!

Meeting reminder

Hello all. Just a reminder that in place of class today, you should cover either the Seminole or Orange County School Board meeting based on your beat community. Send me your meeting brief by email (voss.kimberly@gmail.com) after the meeting. Please bring the agenda to class. Good luck!

Good story pitch example

REDCAMS (Weiner) - "Currently our chief estimates it take two officers to run a red light enforcement detail," said Oveido's city manager at a city council meeting last month. But that fact alone isn't enough to make three proposed red light cameras, which would be the city's first, a no-brainer. At the meeting, the council approved - for some memebers, reluctantly - the city police to look into the cameras, taking the first step into a debate that in other communities has proven especially heated.

The city is basing its light system on nearby Winter Springs, where the cameras have been implimented successfully. Based on the Winter Springs model, according to Oveido's police chief, the cameras would not cost the city anything, but could coust motorists who run the lights quite a bit. The average violation caught on camera in Winter Springs runs $125, of which a whopping $40 goes to the company that provides the cameras.

Though the measure passed unanimously, at least two coucil members have expressed outright dislike of the idea. "I'm not a fan," said Councilman Stephen Schenck. Members of the council expressed concerns that the system could in fact cause accidents rather than prevent them. Studies conducted in other commmunities have shown as much as a 15 percent increase in rear end collisions at lights where the cameras are installed. However, Police Chief Jeffrey Chudnow dismissed those concerns as easily remedied.

"That can be mitigates with proper signage an some speed enforcement on those roads coming up to those lights," he said. There is still a log way to go before the lights could be installed, including negotiations with potential suppliers of the cameras, and an ordinance, which Chudnow said would be necessary to make the violations captured on camera non-moving violations.

Story would include interviews with all mentioned above. I realize that the content above reads more like a meeting brief than a story, but I obviously have only been working on this for a few hours. I'm just looking to get the pitch approved so that I'm sure of my game plan, as our first deadline draws near.

Blogging & Google Maps

The goal today is to have you create a blog in Blogger, create a Google.Map to show your beat communuity's schools and embed it. We'll get started in class and you can finish it on your own.

Next week we will post a photo so be sure to take at least one picture at your school board meeting.

Education Resources

Here is a link to great organization: Education Writers Association. The page includes links to education data.

Here is a link to the Florida PTA.

Here is a link to the Florida School Board organization.

Here is the Florida Department of Education. Here is information on FCAT - including school and district scores.

Here is information on Florida chater schools.

Here are the school report cards for Florida.

Covering education