Will The Herald sell its building, too?

The news: The Herald's printing operations are being closed and moved by its parent, the Journal Register Co., to New Haven. The JRC owns the New Haven Register. The JRC, in its press release announcing this change, said The Herald will gain from improved printing facilities in New Haven. The company said it expects to save about $500,000. [Wikipedia background on the JRC and JRC financials on Google]

The speculation: Printing operations account for a big part of the The Herald's downtown building. Once the JRC moves its printing equipment the company may be tempted to sell the building and relocate advertising and news offices to a smaller space. The Herald may only need square footage half the size of what it now owns. But the JRC could reuse that space. The Herald is centrally located to other JRC properties, including the Bristol Press and Middletown Press, which also makes it an ideal consolidation site.

A little history: The Herald's printing operations were first rate for their day. By the late 1970s, The Herald had moved to electronic publishing. It had excess printing capacity as well. When it was not printing The Herald, its presses serviced other accounts. One of The Herald's biggest outside jobs was printing New York's Village Voice.

Why blogging matters

[I sent this note to the Courant reader representative after it published a story today confirming New Britain High School's probation status. This note speaks for itself -- but I hope the broader message resonates. Blogging can make a difference. On Independence Day what better demonstration of our great rights is there then the right of free speech? Not enough New Britain residents are using the tools available to them to engage one another and their elected leaders in discussion about the future of this city. Had this been taking place, New Britain residents may have learned of NBHS's pending probation status during budget deliberations. New Britain bloggers could have prompted the city to take action now, not later, to avoid this. ]

Dear Courant Reader Representative:

On our blog, http://www.nbblogs.com/, Elisa Hutcoe Krochmalnyckyj, who co-authors this site, recently broke a significant story, reporting that New Britain High School had been placed on probation. She had this story before the actual vote by the accreditation association. Her reporting and comment raises interesting questions. Community officials were clearly aware of the threat of probation but did not disclose it. Neither The Herald or The Courant reported on it. The public needed to know that this threat was looming. Disclosure may have made a difference during recently completed city budget deliberations.

Elisa and I are former Herald reporters living outside of New Britain and we know the importance of this story. But the reason for our blog is to encourage New Britain residents to write about the city and their neighborhoods and engage and question their elected officials.

What should be the relationship between bloggers and newspapers? It can be very strong. A newspaper is an authoritative, trusted voice; its reporters have the access and the skills to discover information and assess its credibility. Bloggers don't see themselves as competitors to newspapers. They will link to your stories, drive traffic to your Web site, and add in new detail and comment. They can make newspapers a far richer experience.

Bloggers can help renew interest in local news and that helps newspapers.

The efforts of bloggers can also help fix a serious problem with newspaper coverage. I started at The Herald in 1981 and prior to that worked as a stringer for The Courant. I remember the deep reporting benches both newspapers had in these local communities. But the need of our local communities for news and comment has not changed. Today, I run dcblogs.com, the blogging aggregation site for the Washington DC Metro area. I don't make any money off this. I have a full time reporting job. I do it because I love community journalism and want to help foster it by providing some very simple tools for connecting a blogging community and fostering its development. My friend, Thomas Fausel, a former New Britain resident, runs http://www.ctweblogs.com/ for this same reason. Elisa, Tom and I all all believe in the future, the importance and necessity of blogging.

Elisa should have gotten credit for her work from the Courant in its story:
http://www.courant.com/news/local/nb/hc-nebschool0704.artjul04,0,2137623.story

By doing so, The Courant may have sent a message to other bloggers in the community: their work matters. And other bloggers were involved. The NB school board chief commented on the issue on this blog: http://www.spazeboy.net/2007/07/nbhs-accreditation-update/ The fact that the school board chief commented on a local blog tells me something.

If the Courant credits blogs for their work it will encourage other local bloggers and earn their thanks. It's only fair. Providing credit is standard practice among most professional news organizations.

Bloggers are among your most faithful and attentative readers.

Regards,
Patrick Thibodeau

NEASC report on NBHS is online

The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) report that details New Britain High School's problems is online at the school's Web site.

Elisa, the co-author of this blog, has reported that the school was recently put on probation by NEASC. This is not been reported in the local media. Prior to that decision, the NEASC prepared a report assessing the school's educational program.

What follows is an excerpt from that report that seemed to summarize what may be a major part of the problem at NBHS:

The community of New Britain and the consolidated school district of New Britain's governing body have not ensured an adequate and dependable source of revenue to provide and maintain appropriate school programs, personnel, services, facilities, equipment, technological support, materials, and supplies for student learning. Over the past five years, funding for the school has been significantly below what was requested to provide these services to the students of NBHS. That request was denied for all five years.

For example, in 2003-4 the board of education's budget request was only 1.57% above the state's required minimum, yet this was still reduced further, resulting in the elimination of 70 positions and the deferment of new and replacement equipment purchases. This past year, a 4.57% reduction in the board's requested budget led to the cutting of 7 teaching positions at NBHS among other things. In addition, the limited funds available are not always spent wisely. For example, because the special education service to students was out of compliance with the state, the school implemented an inclusion model which led to an arbitration hearing that resulted in the payout of $235,000 in extra compensation to special education teachers in the most recent fiscalyear. There is some inefficiency evident in the allocation of resources as well. For example, an evaluation strategy in the technology plan calls for daily classroom observations using PDA computers. The switchboard operator at the front office fields calls from parents about their students, but there is no personal computer available to assist with locating students, receiving e-mail messages, using the TENEX system, or functioning technologically. A paper-based system remains in place. Additionally, massive mailings of 8 annual reports are all stamped manually. There is a postage meter, but, according to the office paraprofessional, it is less expensive to buy stamps at a cost of $30.00 per day. Custodians run bulky mail to the post office when needed.

The budget process itself is as follows: in August, the superintendent is given a tentative budget that includes a three percent increase over the previous year's allocation. According to members of the board of education, this amount is barely enough to cover salary increases and other contractual requirements for current school employees. There is no money left over to make up for previous budget shortfalls or to provide for the enrollment increases experienced over the past few years let alone for program improvements. Funds are then allocated to each department, and the department chairs then ask staff members for input which must take place by December. The principal then meets with the district director of finance and puts forth his budget proposal including his budget rationale. The budget is submitted to the superintendent who then submits it to the common council of the City of New Britain in March.

The final budget is highly dependent grants from outside agencies and on monies appropriated by the state legislature, a process that usually does not take place until July 1. The ability of the City of New Britain itself to pay for high quality education is severely limited as New Britain ranks 168th out of 169 school districts in Connecticut I Adjusted Equalized Net Grand List per Capita. Thus this budget process and timeline inhibit the ability of the school district's executive staff to make proper educational decisions, and the lack of sufficient funding for New Britain High School has had a major impact on the ability of the school to fulfill its mission. (teachers, administrators, self-study, central office personnel, school board members, program of studies)

‘Shortcomings’ reason for NBHS probation

It’s now official that New Britain High School’s accreditation is on probation, and it will remain that way until one of two things happens – the school remedies its "shortcomings" and the probation is lifted; or the school fails to make "reasonable progress" and the school loses its accreditation.

While many of the school’s shortcomings have to do with financing, some don’t, according to Charles McCarthy, an associate director of the agency that handles accreditation, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). McCarthy stressed that anyone with questions about the shortcomings should get a copy of the report issued by NEASC after NEASC’s intensive four-day visit in the fall. The school is required to make that report available to the public.

Although it wasn’t announced to the public, school administrators were notified earlier this year that the unless the city could prove the probation was undeserved deserved, NBHS’s accreditation would be dropped down to a probationary status. School officials did not argue with the report’s findings, and on June 24, NEASC voted to make the probation full and official. Only 3 to 4 percent of schools in New England are on probation.

School and city officials were unavailable for comment at posting time.