The Albuquerque Journal found that
lots of public school teachers get an early jump on weekends and leave
the teaching to subs. It makes me wonder what you would find if you
looked at your local school system.The story says:
On the average Friday, more than one in 10 Albuquerque Public Schools classrooms are being led by substitutes.
Since the start of school Aug. 14, the number of teachers requesting
substitutes has regularly spiked on Fridays, according to APS figures.
That translates into an average of 676 requests on Fridays -- nearly 11 percent of the district's 6,281 regular teachers.
By contrast, there were 505 substitute requests on Wednesdays.
The most requests, 886 of them, came Oct. 5, the Friday before the kickoff of this year's Balloon Fiesta.
This in a school district where the teacher absentee rate outstrips the national average.
District and union officials say they are looking for ways to bring the
numbers down. A joint committee has been studying the problem since
spring.
"Clearly we're concerned if there's a spike on a Monday or a Friday
because every day is a learning day,
" said Superintendent Beth Everitt.
Audience Research & Development (AR&D) has released what it calls "the most extensive and comprehensive analysis in TV broadcast
history of morning news viewers."
The study says morning viewers watch longer than they once did, they want
news rather than nonsense, and they are not up for much analysis at that time of the day -- just the facts. AR&D implores morning newscasters to avoid goofy live shots, fluff and other time-wasters.
And the study issues a warning for stations that constantly repeat the same headlines or spend time on pet stories or meaningless franchises: stop it!
According to AR&D, you cannot underestimate the importance of
who is delivering the news, which is by far the top reason viewers choose one station over another. It is not about helicopters or whiz-bang graphics or pretty sets. It is the talent.
Here are some bullet points and graphics from AR&D's Web site:
- Viewers want headlines -- the "what" rather than the "why."
- They want you to alert them to any problems they'll need to face beyond weather and traffic.
- They want a jump on the day's news -- not a rehash of yesterday's news.
- The AR&D morning news research also revealed that, by far, the
biggest driver of preference is talent -- almost three times as
important as format, which was second in importance.
- AR&D's Content Demand Curve can act as a guide in setting content priorities. The differences are remarkable.
- "Core" includes the weathercast, breaking news, local news, overnight
updates, traffic reports and top story previews. Focus on these
elements.
- The "Other News" elements include national, state and
international news. Also local politics and political races. These have
some value.
- The category of "Live" includes a list of upcoming
community/entertainment events, live interviews with newsmakers, a
live reporter with lighthearted stories, and live studio interviews.
Stay away from these, but especially avoid...
- "Misc." includes new gadgets and inventions, movie reviews,
hot trends, lottery numbers, live interviews with celebrities, mug and
ticket giveaways, network program updates, birthday/ anniversary
announcements and trivia contests. These are deadly.
Aquarium Plants Invade WaterwaysRegular readers of Al's Morning Meeting know
that I have long been interested in the threat that invasive species
pose to our waterways. The Salem, Ore.,
Statesman Journal zeros into the problem of how common plants used to decorate fish tanks have taken over lakes and rivers.
This is the third installment of the
Statesman Journal's 10-month series on the
environmental and financial effects of invasive species in Oregon. I congratulate a paper that understands its readers' interest in environmental issues and then invests the resources necessary to cover the story.
From the article:
When it comes to obnoxious, choking water
weeds Egeria and watermilfoil, it's a case of yesterday's aquarium
ornamentals becoming today's aquatic nightmare.
Both
Brazilian elodea -- scientific name Egeria densa -- and Eurasian
watermilfoil -- Myriophyllum spicatum -- escaped into the wild through
the dumping and flushing of home hobbiest fish tanks into lakes, rivers
and ponds.
Once in the water, the invasive
plants spread through flooding or by being transported on recreational
boats and trailers or commercial barges. Weed fragments can cling to
waders, boots and tire treads.
How big can the problem be? Read this passage:
Once Egeria and milfoil become established in
a body of water -- with no natural enemies and an ability to outcompete
native plants -- they spread rapidly, growing thick enough to make
recreation, such as boating and even using the ramps, impossible.
The
weed growths can be lethal to humans. In August, a 22-year-old
Washington man died when he got tangled in a milfoil bed while swimming
in the Columbia River.
The paper goes way beyond reporting the story in print. The Web site for the series includes:
- Multimedia: View the growing library of videos and photo galleries
on the effects of specific invasive species and how they affect
Oregonians.
- Educational resources: Each part of the invasive species series is accompanied by materials for
teachers and parents.
- Invasive species database: The
newspaper has created an evolving, comprehensive database of all kinds
of invasive species.
There also are special sections for different types of people affected by invasive species:
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning
Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other
materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and
analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it
will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The
column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of
the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be
corrected.
Al, I substitute in the Pinellas County School System. I...
