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Although The Tower does not have a “beat” system, as most professional publications do, I took on the challenge of covering the Grosse Pointe Public Schools School Board. When I joined staff, there was no one consistently covering the school board, my goal was to fill that hole. When I signed up for my first school board story, I did not think that sitting under the fluorescent lights of Brownell Middle School would become a regular occurrence- but I was wrong. Through studying for the SATs, mourning a family member's death, and summer breaks, I stayed loyal to this beat, continually covering the school board’s every move. Most of my story ideas for other staffers have come from topics that were spoken about by community members during public comment, or things that audience members told me. This beat taught me more than I could have imagined about local government and politics, and for that I am grateful.
News
4 new administrators take the helm at Grosse Pointe North High School after resignations
The Detroit Free Press
While working as an apprentice at the Detroit Free Press, I knew I wanted to find a way to bring my skills from covering my local school board to the metro Detroit area. When pitching this story idea to my advisor, Melanie Scott-Dorsey, I was excited, but unsure if it would be newsworthy enough for the Detroit Free Press. After I got the “okay”, I consulted the education reporter, Lily Altavena, on how to move forward. I used connections I have from Grosse Pointe North to get in touch with a mother and a daughter to interview. I initially wrote this story in July, but after talking with an editor, we agreed it would be most timely to publish as school was starting. Overall, I am very proud of this story and how impactful/informative it was to my community.
School Board member investigated after district complaint filed
The Tower
I believe this investigative story is one of my best works due to the extensive research, FOIA requests and time invested. Following an human relations report filed against a school board member, an extensive investigation was completed by a third party law firm. This complicated story took months of investigating to complete. This story led me to file over 15 FOIA requests, going deep on background with sources, talking with the SPLC (Student Press Law Center), and many early morning meeting with my editors. This story explained all of the information was that unclear to the community, a community eager for transparency from a reluctant board. After publishing this article I was subjected to negative and positive feedback, something that I had never experienced as a high school journalist.
This story is discussed further in the “Law and Ethics” section.
​Special Education support prompts uncertainty
The Tower
After covering my school board for over two years, including summers, I made a goal for myself to start not only covering the newsworthy events that happened at the meetings, but how those events affect the district. While sitting in the audience during the Jan 21, 2024 school board meeting, which occurred on a snow day, they announced the passing of the letter of agreement for the special education teachers and I immediately started reaching out to the teachers. While writing this story, I knew that if it was written incorrectly, I could risk damaging relationships with the anonymous sources I spoke to. It was a daunting task, but I believe I succeeded.
Enrollment crisis causes district stress
The Tower
​This news analysis is an example of a time that I saw the local government not providing information in a clear way to the people, so I attempted to do so. In the longest piece I have published, over 10,000 words, I jumped into multiple topics that I did not see the district/school board presenting to the community- including true enrollment statistics across the district, what the effects of closing schools are and the national downward trends of enrollment- among others topics. When I first started to pull all my material together to write, I was overwhelmed, but quickly realized that if I do not break it up into sections the readers will be just as overwhelmed as me. I do not believe that I could have produced this work without the prior knowledge I accumulated from the many hours I have spent in the audience of the Grosse Pointe Schools School Board meetings.
School board voter's guide
The Tower
​After wrapping up my apprenticeship with the Detroit Free Press, I knew that I wanted to start right back where I was covering the school board. In this election there were nine candidates and I interviewed all of them. My goal when starting the voter’s guide in mid-August was to have it out roughly a month before the election, which I did successfully. This election was highly contentious with two competing slates of candidates. In each of the interviews, I asked them all the same questions to ensure fairness. I later used this story to produce a breaking news story on who won the election.
​Rezoning plan comes to attention in Grosse Pointe Park
The Tower
When hearing about the plan for demolishing homes for parking lots in my community, I knew that this would be an impactful piece. It lacked attention in the local media, and with this story, I tried to patch that whole. I took the approach of trying to understand how decisions being made at the local government level will affect those in the community. I reached out to multiple families who were being directly impacted by the decision, and reached out to both those on the city council who opposed and approved it to show all perspectives. After publishing, many readers expressed gratitude for having a journalist in the community cover something that was directly impacting people.
2024 MIPA Division 2, Honorable Mention, News Analysis
School Board tables Grosse Pointe North health clinic
The Tower
This was the first article that I wrote on the school board. The article won 2023 MIPA Division 2 Honorable Mention Breaking News Story. As it was my first breaking news story, I learned how quickly the newsroom is. At The Tower, rarely are stories pressed for time. For this article, I wrote it directly after the meeting, which is something I still do when covering the school board to ensure I do not forget any details. Then the next morning I notified a superiving copy editor to look at the story, and it was published within 24 hours of the meeting. This story was the starting point for me learning how to write breaking news stories.
