Okay, maybe not.
My wife and I cancelled our subscription to The Northwest Herald a few years ago due to the fact that the paper lacks balance. And there have been some serious flaws in reporting over the years. Amateurish, actually.
When we got a call from them last year to renew our subscription for a 4 day delivery, including Sunday, for a one-time price of $20 or so, we decided to give them another try. After all, if they were offering a subscription like that they must be hurting for readers.
And we just wanted to help them out. We’re like that, you know.
Today, the editor of The Northwest Herald went on his usually tirade. He does that every week. And this time, it was against the teachers of District 26, of course.
He took issue with the fact that several teachers attended the last board of education meeting wearing black. The headline states, “Back out on the blackout.” Then he goes on to ridicule those teachers for their choice of color, stating, “Teachers wearing black in support of the deal that has been imposed on them is as short sighted as….yada..yada..yada.”
Chris Krug, they were not wearing black in support of the deal. They were wearing black to show that they were not in support of the deal…because, it was not….a deal. A deal implies a mutually agreed upon outcome. The fact is, the board has refused to deal.
He didn’t tell you that, however.
In fact, there was much that Mr. Krug does not mention. Of course, he laments about teachers’ salaries. “No tears will be shed for someone who can’t get by on an average salary of $69,000 a year,” he writes.
But did he tell you that the Superintendent’s base salary of $147,000 is subject to possible increases based on CPI and another 4% a year extra if he meets performance goals?
No, he did not.
Did he mention that this Board of Education has a new budget that includes 2% more allocated to Administration this year?
No, he did not.
Did he mention that the teachers have offered to give up retirement bonuses and end of career bumps?
No, he did not.
Did he mention that teachers have offered to pay 30% more for health insurance?
No, he did not.
Most of the column, actually, was devoted to the lyrics of Johnny Cash’s familiar song, “Man in Black.” In fact, the entire song was reprinted there in the column, taking up perhaps 1/3 of the space.
See, that’s what happens when people have nothing to say. You see this much in high school writing, actually. Kids like to quote songs or a famous person to show that they know how to write and make a point. This happens often in The Northwest Herald. And these are people who supposedly know something about journalism and the writing process.
Thanks Mr. Krug for showing us that you can Google Johnny Cash lyrics.
I can, too. In fact, maybe you should have used the lyrics for Cash’s song, “First Grade Old Maid Teacher.” I’m sure you could have worked that into your column in a “clever” way, too:
First grade old maid teacher
Getting' ready to go home
Thirty happy children
Once again are on their own
They climb aboard the school bus
She smiles and waves goodbye
But the first grade old maid teacher
Wants to cry
The fact is that The Northwest Herald has come down quite aggressively on just one side of this issue. Many of us were pleasantly surprised by Katie Anderson’s article of last week. That just doesn’t happen often in The Northwest Herald.
Perhaps Mr. Krug was on vacation that week.
No one here is saying that the teacher’s shouldn’t make concessions. I believe the teachers have to make some major concessions.
But the board has to meet them at the table and give some things up as well.
But that is not what they appear to be doing. And that is something that The Northwest Herald should also be reporting.
But Chris Krug doesn’t want that side of the story to be told, apparently.
He would rather talk about Johnny Cash and teachers wearing black.
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