What follows is a newswriting exercise. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
You’re covering a 7 p.m. meeting of the Centerville School Board. The meeting is being held in the auditorium of Centerville High School. Here are your notes from the meeting:
-Board begins with discussion of ongoing cleanup at McKinley Elementary School; school had experienced water damage during heavy rains and flooding two weeks ago in the city’s Parksburg section, near the Root River. Several ground-floor classrooms had water damage. School Principal Jaclyn Wong says repairs are proceeding on schedule but it will be several more weeks before they’re finished. She says much of the furniture, books and supplies in the rooms was ruined by the water and will need replacing. Estimated cost: $20,000. Wong says classes in those rooms have been temporarily moved to the cafeteria.
-Tamara Washington, principal of Centerville High School, gives an update on work on the school’s new computer lab. She says the lab, which is being installed as an addition to the school’s library, is on schedule and due to be completed in two months. Estimated cost: $150,000.
-Board hears a proposal from local resident Sandra Williams, member of a group called Creation Science Ministry of Centerville. Williams presents the board with a petition bearing 500 signatures from local residents demanding that creationism be taught in the science curriculum of all Centerville School District high schools. “We’re keeping God out of our schools. Evolution is a theory, not a fact. All we’re asking is that students get both sides of the story. Let them hear the debate,” Williams tells the board. There is a mixture of boos and applause from the group of about 50 local residents attending the meeting.
Bob Stanford, a science teacher at Centerville High School, stands up and asks to be recognized. He is red in the face and appears agitated. “This group is doing nothing but peddling pseudo-science. They’re trying to inject religion into science classes. This is the 21st century; our students have to be able to compete in the sciences with students from all over the world. How are they going to do that if we teach this nonsense in our science classes?” Stanford also gets a mixture of boos and applause.
When Stanford is finished, school board member Linda Fiorello says, “I disagree with the idea of teaching religion in our science classes, but in any case, such a change in the district’s curriculum would require approval by the state legislature, wouldn’t it?” Jason Smith, a conservative member of the board, responds, “I don’t think we need the state to dictate what we can and cannot teach in our own school district.” The board votes to table the matter for further discussion.
When you get back to the Centerville Gazette newsroom it’s 9:30 p.m. The night city editor says you’ve got an hour to write the story. “And dig up some background online about attempts to teach creationism in other school districts around the country. Put some of that in your story,” he adds.
Write the story in an hour or less.
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