I attended the School Board Reorganization meeting on November 17 at 3 p.m. The first part was the recognition of all the new positions for the board members. Carol Kurdell stepped down as Chair and Susan Valdes became the new leading member of the board. Dorothea Edgecombe filled Mrs. Valdes’ seat as Vice Chair.

Since I had spoken with Mrs. Valdes at the last public meeting about the possibility of her new position I was pleased to hear she accomplished her goal. She is the first Hispanic female to serve as the school board’s Chairperson.

After the announcement of the new positions, there was a recess of the meeting. The room was buzzing with excitement for Valdes. Her family brought roses and they were all there to support her. I spoke to her daughter, Mallory Valdes about her mother’s involvement in the school system.

“She’s been on the PTA starting from when I was in kindergarten”, Mallory recalled. Even when she worked full time as a clinic manager for the Hillsborough County Health Care Program, Valdes used her time and skills to serve the public schools in this area. At first, her inspiration was her own children. Now, she serves the county’s students because she sees the need for good leadership to ensure a good future for these kids.

Valdes said, “I’m just excited to be the leader of the 8th largest school district in the nation.”

And rightfully so, her work on the school board affects the lives of almost 200,000 students and their families. This school district has a great impact because of its enormity. Valdes will oversee a budget of $2.6 billion and 30,000 employees. The decisions made by the school board affect every taxpayer in the county.

Kathy Brown also attended the meeting. She is a parent of former Hillsborough County students and a volunteer in the schools. She knows Valdes personally from her work in the district. She is Mrs. Valdes’ representative on the Citizen’s Advisory Committee. She said she comes to the meetings to “listen and show support”.

She said, “Schools are a big deal in our community so we have to pay attention.”

Brown explained that she pays attention because “They actually makes decisions that affect us.”

Because her position affects so many lives, I am truly pleased Mrs. Valdes got the job. She is a great person to communicate with, she has a heart for people, especially students, and she works hard at what she wants to see done.

Will The Real Expert on Poverty Please Stand Up?

I attended the Hillsborough County School Board meeting on November 3, 2009 at 3:00 p.m. The first hour and a half of the meeting was comprised of routine voting that all passed unanimously, recognition of student achievements, and a bunch of promotions of school district employees. The meeting really got going when the board opened up the floor for audience comments.

Several people spoke on their various grievances. However, the topic that caught my attention pertained to the Ruby Payne training being used in Hillsborough County schools since 2000.

This training is meant to educate teachers in the county about children from poverty and their families. Although I think the training has good intentions, it has been accused of classism, racism, and stereotyping. The creator, Ruby Payne, gives lectures about her methods all over the country for payment by these various school boards. Her company aha! Process, Inc. publishes all her materials and facilitates her seminars. She has a Ph.D. and has been a educator most of her life either as a teacher or administrator. I read some of her curriculum for myself and I can see why the citizens who attended the school board meeting were upset about some of the concepts

You can read Ruby Payne’s Framework for Understanding Poverty for yourself, but I’ll give you the highlights. She uses “case studies” or examples to illustrate different situations that children in poverty face. Teachers are then trained on how to handle these situations. The main theme running throughout the training is that children and parents from low-socioeconomic backgrounds cannot communicate well and will resort to violence before dialogue.

Marilyn Williams introduced herself to the board as a “ ‘poor parent’ economically speaking”. She feels this is a “very serious issue” . She’s concerned that if these young teachers are taught to treat poor students and parents as if they are incapable of communicating then she will be set up to treat them in a stereotypical, classicist way. She politely insisted that if teachers are taught that she would rather fight than talk even before she shows up to the school, then she will get no where trying to talk about her child’s schooling.

Williams main argument is that Ruby Payne is not a real authority on poverty. Her books are self-published, so none of her publications are peer reviewed. Her own book cites her reserach to be based on "observations", none of which are recorded, of her husband's family that came from generational poverty. She has no real research to back up her theories, they are simply opinion. And she has every right to that opinion, but she is not qualified to train Hillsborough County teachers (and teachers across the nation) about her unfounded theories. In addition, in the nine years the training has been in effect in Hillsborough there has been no empirical evidence that the training works. There are no records that the number of referrals or suspensions have gone down. No increased numbers in graduation.

When I spoke with Ms. Williams after the meeting she said, “I see education as the best opportunity for a level playing field…I’m just now beginning to believe that’s not true.” According to her, we send more kids from 33619 and 33610 zip codes to jail than any other. She sees the way these teachers are being trained as perpetuating the track from the “schoolhouse to the jailhouse” for these kids.

Williams is part of an advocacy organization called ANCHOR. Their acronym explains their mission.

Advocating
Neighborhoods
Children and Families to
Heighten
Opportunities and
Resources

This group works to help people in their community become advocates for their children in the schools and encourage parent involvement. Williams was followed in the audience comments by Cherryl Witt, another member of ANCHOR and a retired educator. She, too, is appalled by the nature of Ruby Payne training. When I spoke with her after the meeting she said, “They think I’m going away and I ain’t going no where. I’ve been doing this for two years.” She agrees with Williams about the lack of peer review and evidence on whether Ruby Payne’s training is effective or harmful to students. Both women offered to talk to me anytime about the subject.

I was able to catch up with School Board Member and Vice Chair, Susan Valdes after the meeting to find out her thoughts on Ruby Payne and these women’s comments during the meeting. Mrs. Valdes immediately responded, “I don’t like Ruby Payne training either.” As a woman who grew up poor she identified with these women and their children. She told me, “I grew up poor and I don’t stand on no corner selling my body, I’m a school board member for the eighth largest school district in America.”

It’s possible that Valdes could become the first female Hispanic school board chair, at the November 17 reorganization meeting. This might give her the power to sway the board into making changes to the Ruby Payne training or doing away with it all together.






I only hope that there can be a resolution to this issue. Because while the school board drags its feet on a decision, teachers are being improperly trained to the disadvantage of already disadvantaged children.



Suggeseted sources:


Here's a 14 year old from Raleigh who simply reads from her book and shuts Ruby Payne down!

All around downtown

My experience requesting public records was pretty easy. No one denied me or sent me packing. However, I did encounter some inconsistency in people's training in Sunshine laws.

My first stop was to the Fred B. Karl County Center. I went to the 13th floor (which by the way is actually the second floor, weird) and found the Clerk of Circuit Court's office. I asked Erin Cross for some records on Jim Norman, the county commissioner (and my profile subject). She promptly told me everything I wanted was online and gave me a helpful post it to find what I wanted. I appreciated her courtesy.

The next stop on floor 15 was the Tax Collector's office. Just as described by Preston Trigg in his virtual visit to our class, this place was extremely efficient. They hand you a number, you take a seat, you're in, you're out, and you're done. The only problem was in I approached the county and asked for a 119 request of Jim Norman's tax records. Joanna, the receptionist, promptly asked "What's 119?". As a government worker in an office that works with public records she should know these kinds of terms. I politely explained my request and she was kind enough to print one out for me so that I would not return to class empty handed, however she also suggested I go online for this information.

Stop number three, on the 16 floor was the Property Appraiser's office. This woman was the most difficult to work with as far as her attitude goes, but she did produce a copy of Jim Norman's records after telling me repeatedly "It's all online". This seemed to be a running theme.

The last stop was to the county courthouse. I had to go through a metal detector and then ask for directions to the room where I would make a records request. I finally found the room and then had to fine my own way to to where the records action actually happens. Fortunately, at the end of the line I was met with a nice woman who was familiar with our class. She tried to help me in any way possible and directed me to two records I could print out. Then came the hard hitting truth...the cost!

I paid one dollar a record for two records, and then when I didn't have cash or check I had to pay FIVE dollars to use my debit card. This seemed to crazy to me since most people run on a cashless lifestyle. Why would I be carrying around my checkbook or cash? If I had been warned I would have, but still five dollars is an outrageos charge for such a small convenience. The courthouse need to update their card machines and get up with the 21st century where everyone uses plastic.

I actually really enjoyed the day walking around downtown and seeing these buildings that I had seen on our virtual field trips. Now that I've taken the time to experience the process I realize almost anything from the Fred B. Karl County Center can be retrieved online. And that you should always carry cash when dealing with the government.

"Autopsy reports are boring"

“Autopsy reports are boring.” Dr. Vernard Adams, Hillsborough County Medical Examiner, said it, not me. He said that unless it involves a celebrity death most days the press leaves him alone, and he likes it that way. And even in these cases, many times reporters just want an official expert opinion on the cause of death. However, Dr. Adams explained, “There’s a perception that when you open up a dead body, flags unfurl, trumpets blare and the answer is revealed, but most of the time that isn’t true.”

In addition to releasing records, Dr. Adams will also do press conferences or put out a press release in order to expediently inform the press about a high profile case. This saves him and the reporters precious time.

This is not to say that as a public servant Dr. Adams dislikes the press or does not want to hand over records to them. Quite the opposite, in fact, he said he loves the Sunshine laws in Florida as opposed to in New England where he used to live. Here he can just look up whatever the press wants, give it to them, and they will go away.

Now, as a gatekeeper of the dead…and their records, Dr. Adams has to make sure all the public records he releases are supposed to be public. For this reason, there are two different types of death certificates at the Medical Examiner’s office. One is open to all the public, but comes without the cause of death (unless it’s been on file for more than 50 years, then it is all public). The other, made for the next of kin, includes medical information including cause of death. Ironically enough, however, if you want to know the cause of death you can just call up the Medical Examiner yourself and get his analysis. I’m not sure how much Dr. Adams likes this policy since that means he would actually have to speak to a living reporter.

There are other records available besides death certificates and autopsy records. The office also houses toxicology reports, hospital records, dental records, police reports, and government phone conversations. Essentially, anything pertaining to a particular death case will be on file.

If a reporter were to do a case involving a dead body, Dr. Adam’s office is the place to go. They have highly organized files that have everything pertaining to a particular case in one file. All the cases are color coded by type of case, for example, traffic accidents are in black and unknown causes are orange. This office would be the place to find out how many homicides or suicides have occurred in the last 5 years in a particular area. You could find out how many traffic accidents happen at a certain intersection. All these concepts are at your fingertips with the help of the Medical Examiner’s excellent staff.

I appreciate Dr. Adams dry sense of humor when it comes to the dead and the living. Even though he may not be thrilled to see you on his office steps, he will gladly deliver whatever public record you request that falls under the Florida Sunshine Laws.

Just hurry up and leave so he can get back to his “clients”.

The Synthesis of Sources

My reporting in the last two years at the USF School of Mass Communications has centered around interviews and experts. In my last semester, I finally learned how to go to the record as a source for information. Gil taught us the power of a 119 request and “shoe leather” reporting. I’ve learned that you can make a story almost entirely from records based reporting.

In our last video, Steve Andrews, Senior Investigative Reporter and Executive producer of Investigations at WFLA Channel 8, gave us the tools to fuse records and interviews based reporting into a solid story. Stories with records and no quotes can be dry and lack emotion. Stories with all quotes and no records are less powerful and less informative. Steve showed us how getting your facts straight through records and databases makes you prepared for an effective interview that will make your story relatable to the readership.


Through Steve’s examples, we saw the life cycle of a story. It starts with a tip. This leads to public documents research, and it results in interviews to get all the perspectives on the story. Steve used his manners and tact to score a lead on the “Wii Bowling” story from a tipster who felt that FoxNews 13 treated him or her disrespectfully. Steve majored on the fact that respect will open doors for you and that being a tough reporter is not synonymous with being a jerk. The informant gave him a video showing Polk County Sheriff’s deputies playing Wii Bowling while performing a drug bust on Michael Difalco’s home. This huge story would never have broken without this critical tip.

After he got the video, Steve researched the search warrant and any other records he could get pertaining to the case. Finally, after gathering all these facts he called up the Polk County Sheriff for an interview. He was willing to talk to Steve because he was polite and informed.
After your extensive records research, the next most important part of a journalist’s job is to be a good interviewer. Steve suggested you write everything down and come in with your three most important questions that you must get in to the interview. He emphasized the importance of letting them “tell you what they want to tell you” while keeping command of the conversation and getting the answers you came to get. I appreciated this advice because I know as an inexperienced student reporter I have made plenty of mistakes because of being underprepared and timid in an interview.

The blend of records based reporting and good interviewing skills makes Steve great at what he does. His investigative journalism has uncovered several stories about our political leaders. He encouraged us to “keep powerful people accountable”. This is the basis for investigative reporting. All the stories he shared with us kept someone in power in check. He asked why Blue Cross Blue Shield denied a woman’s coverage for a life saving surgery. He asked Judge Stringer why a public servant who is supposed to uphold the law ignored it to commit bank fraud for a friend. He asked Lex Salisbury why he was using his position at the Lowry Park Zoo to pump assets into his own private animal park that he was building in a neighborhood without asking the neighbors.

By asking the tough questions, Steve Andrews has enterprised hundreds of investigative stories in his career. His niche in journalism makes sure the powerful stay in line using a synthesis of well-researched records and tough but fair interviews.

Preston Trigg, Director of Administration at the Hillsborough County Tax Collector’s office, is a government official on the journalist’s side. As a journalist until 1999, Trigg understands the struggles for a story and the imperative need for accessibility to public records. Because of his journalism background Trigg is very knowledgeable about how the Sunshine laws work, how to use them, and what to do if you are denied a record.

Trigg outlined the types of documents you can get at the Tax Collector’s office. Most of these records are available at hillstax.org. A reporter can research the worth of someone’s home, find out if a politician pays their taxes, or uncover someone’s driving record.

Thankfully, because of people like Trigg working in the Tax Collector’s Office these requests are processed more quickly and efficiently. In fact, the entire office is running more efficiently due to cross-training and updated technology. Something as simple as giving people a chair while they wait has improved customer morale immensely.

I learned a lot from Trigg about what to look for if you are going to pull records. He gave us a comprehensive list of the main things to ask when covering a story. Many of these requests involved the financial information of the top 10 highest paid employees in an agency. He reiterated our class motto “Follow the Money!”. One thing I did not consider before his lecture was looking at employee’s “educational expenses” because many times tax payer paid trips are considered “educational”.

Trigg inspired us to not take “no” for answer when it comes to making a “119 request”. He encouraged us to know the Sunshine Law and make the organizations cooperate. He emphasized that EVERYTHING in Florida that pertains to government agencies is a public record unless otherwise stated in one of the exemptions.

One of the exemptions includes private emails. Generally, any email sent by a government official on a government computer is considered public record. However, if the email’s content and receiver pertain to a private matter it is not public. After requesting the emails of Assistant City Manager Garry Brumback and Planning and Development Administrator John Asmar, the St. Pete Times actually sued the City of Clearwater for withholding certain “private” emails.
The best advice Trigg gave us as a retired journalist turned government official pertained to how to request a record. Even though the Sunshine law explicitly states you are not required to put your request in writing…Trigg says do it! For cases just like the St. Pete Times lawsuit, you want proof that you made the request, when you made the request, and how you made the request.

Trigg was able to thoroughly explain in detail what you would need to know as a reporter on your next visit to the Tax Collector’s office or their website. His knowledge of both worlds seem to be indispensable information on any public records based story.

Follow the Money

There is a constant debate surrounding the freedom to support political campaigns. Some wealthy contributors might argue that their right to free speech should allow them to support their candidate of choice with however much money they would like give. They feel their contribution is a way of letting their money speak for them.

As a predominantly libertarian thinker, I would normally say that the government should not control the way anyone wants to spend their money. But in this case, I think these wealthy contributors are wrong.

The way to support a candidate is with your vote. Everyone gets one vote. Everyone already has a voice. So why should someone who makes more money have more of a voice than the next guy? Allowing these powerful people to control elections by pumping their candidate of choice with the cash needed for an expensive campaign is unethical.

I don’t mean to say you shouldn’t support a candidate financially, but if everyone gives the designated amount, this will only force candidates to do what they should be doing: using their platform and their personality to gather more people behind their cause instead of schmoozing a select few rich guys for their hefty contributions.

Because of my take on this debate, the information that William “Windy” March gave us about following the money was exciting. If my fellow journalists and I could follow the money trail to expose the rampant existence of money laundering, more of these shady deals could be stopped.

I didn’t realize the number of sites available to help you find the connections between politicians and their contributors. March has 200 sites bookmarked of this nature on his computer and he said he has to find at least two more each week. Sites like opensecrets.org, show who gives where and who they are. March used the site to find out how many of Jiminez’s employees supported Clinton’s campaign in 1996. Later, he researched some of the names at the Supervisor of Elections Office to find out if and with which party each employee was registered to vote.

The petty rules at the Supervisor of Elections office about where you have to stand to take notes on voter registration records only strengthened my observation that government organizations are reluctantly “in the sunshine”. However, March’s determination to find this story and prove his point to his readers kept him from being put off by a little white line in his way.
The Mark Jiminez case was inspiring. Even though March did not come out and say that Jiminez laundered money given to the Clinton campaign he gave his readers all the facts they needed to draw this conclusion. Ultimately, his story had enough power to effect change and led to an indictment of Jiminez.

This session with March gave me some of the most practical tools we’ve learned about so far. About the Jiminez story, March said, "I didn't interview anybody until this story was essentially already written." This quote drove the point home that records-based reporting can help you dig to find the real answers about a story. With the know how to find these sites and follow the money I feel as if I could really keep my representatives and their supporters accountable to the current campaign contribution laws. March warned us that you won’t always find what you’re looking for, but I think the lesson here was to take the time to look.

The Clerk of Courts Holds the Keys to Every Record of Your Life

Meet Pat Frank. An innocent looking older lady who's been married for over fifty years, has three daughters and two grandchildren. What you might not suspect from this seemingly unassuming, nice woman is that she controls the records of your entire life from birth to death.

She is the Clerk of the Circuit Courts/Comptroller for Hillsborough County. This means this one elected official takes care of all the public records in the county and manages the $1.8 billion county budget. To me, this seems like a lot of power for one person. Somehow though, Pat Frank handles all of this pressure with grace.

The Clerk’s office files 42 different types of documents. These include birth and death records, marriage licenses, divorce records, mortgages, foreclosures, traffic citations, adoption papers, and evidence in court cases, to name a few. As Gil put it, the Clerk of the Circuit Courts is the “central nervous system” of the county. It reflects our society in the mirror of its records.

Frank’s job to keep all these departments running efficiently proves to be difficult. However, her colleagues seem to think she has done a marvelous job at streamlining their office. For example, the Clerk’s office can now turn around a jail inmate’s casework in a week instead of a month. This means less time in jail and less money spent by the county. In some ways, having the Clerk of Courts run your budget is helpful because they find ways to cut costs by making their own department more efficient.

During her time in office, Frank also introduced the Pro Se office to help expedite trials that don’t require a lawyer. People can bring their cases to a kiosk in the Clerk’s office and get advice on how to process their case. This saves the county money on public defenders and court fees for those who don’t have the means to hire a lawyer.

My favorite change to the way the Hillsborough County Clerk of Circuit Courts works is the transfer of many of the public records to the web. You can just check out hillsclerk.com and look up many of the records that used to be only available downtown. This also saves the office employees precious time they would be spending locating a record for you.

I will not even attempt to describe and explain all the duties of the Clerk and her loyal group of employees. So I’ll just give you the numbers to quantify the amount of work that flows through this office of now only about 800 staffers (after a large cut that eliminated 117 positions). In 2008 this organization processed:

· 1.3 million document pages
· 439,00 transactions
· 1.3 million names
· 10,000 marriage licenses
· 2,800 marriages (in their “Chapel of Love”)
· $ 19.4 million in fees

These are staggering figures for just one place. The numbers only back up the fact that this office is the “central nervous system” of a society. As a journalist, I see it as a wealth of knowledge for any information you might need on an individual from birth to death.

So for all the work you do to make it possible. Thanks Pat Frank.

Orient Road Jail: A Microcosm of Society…Except That Your Every Move Is Recorded as a Public Document

I expected the Hillsborough County Jail to be a scary place with bars and yelling officers and tough inmates. However, from Lt. Scott Smith’s tour, it seems that the jail is not much different from the world we live in, except, of course, the freedom to leave the building. Inmates have three meals a day, a bunk to sleep in, reading material, television, and recreation. They have access to medical, dental, and psychiatric care. In addition, any of the problems you could imagine on the outside they have on the inside. We could not see any of the inmates because of the threat of spreading swine flu.

In regards to our class, the major difference between freedom and jail life is the amount of public records that are kept about the inmates’ every move. All footage captured on the security cameras are kept for two weeks. This is for the protection of the deputies and the inmates. So, if you were to do a story on a jail fight that lead to one inmate killing another, a broadcast journalist could access the security tape in the next two weeks following the incident and air it as supporting evidence. A Phoenix TV station did that and proved that the Sheriff’s Office's story did not line up with the video’s evidence of the incident (Read the full story here). The jail keeps the booking video for forty nine months for evidence in “use of force” cases like the quadriplegic dumping video we all saw last February.

The news stations and newspapers got that video because it is public record. Inmates in confinement are watched twenty four hours a day by a deputy who records their every move. Another public record. Any incident reports that are filed while the inmate is in the jail are public. As we learned at the HCSO, CRA’s are also public. Are you noticing a pattern here?

Even the prisoners phone calls and visitation records are public. For this reason, most lawyers warn them not to discuss anything over the phone. However, Lt. Scott Smith explained that many times they can catch inmates with drugs or other contraband because they discuss their wrongdoing over the phone. These phone records are fairly easy to access, too. Each inmate must punch in their identification number to make a phone call. To get a specific recording, a reporter must simply request the phone records for an inmate’s ID number with a certain date and time. Unfortunately, the lieutenant said that interviewing a deputy who dealt with a certain inmate is prohibited. In this case you would be sent to a PIO.

I’ve never planned on going to jail, and I still don’t. This trip has sealed the deal. I think, beyond all the security and supervision, the most humiliating and freedom infringing aspect of jail is the lack of privacy. When you go to jail you are on the radar 24/7 and everything you do is a matter of public record. When you end up in jail, your privacy comes to an end.

In Public Affairs Reporting, There Is No “One-Stop Shop”

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is trying to make their records accessible. But this is not the only stop for a reporter doing a police records story. J.D. Callaway, the Public Information Officer at the HCSO, and his colleague, USF graduate Crystal Bermudas, shared with our class about the different documents available at the Sheriff’s Office. However, Gil’s quote impacted me the most. When discussing the necessity of "shoe leather journalism", Gil stated that there is “no one-stop shop”.

Once HCSO sends out a press release about one of the newsworthy cases that came in that day, a reporter’s work just begins. Callaway explained that the search does not start at the Sheriff’s Office. He suggested to start at the jail and get the criminal report affidavit to see who the victims and the arrestees are. Next, you need to go to the courthouse to see if the arrestees have previous court cases on their record. After this, you need to go to the HCSO for the charge report and any other records available from the case (i.e. DUI reports, traffic reports). Lastly, check out the scene of the crime and talk to secondary sources, like family members and friends, about what happened. As one student put it, it’s a lot of driving.

In an age of Wal-Mart shopping and internet searching, young journalists might find this process daunting. However, “shoe leather journalism” is necessary to get the story right. You cannot depend on a press release or a detective’s report alone for the most accurate and intriguing information. First of all, a press release only gives you the bare minimum facts and finding the story can require digging deeper. Secondly, many of the reports are hard to read or illegible, so they need to be verified with other sources.

I think this kind of reporting makes journalism exciting. Even though traveling to each place can be inconvenient, it is imperative to a good, solid story. Besides, Callaway admitted that they only release about five percent of the cases that come in each day in a press release. Although I’m sure Callaway and Bermudas are capable PIO’s, they still work for elected official, David Gee, and their news judgment may not be the same as yours.

So find your own story, research that story, and do some enterprise reporting that will affect your community.

The Power of Online to Take Specific Info to the Reader

Online media is overshadowing what you would call traditional journalism more everyday. Some are concerned that this will affect the validity of the journalism in our culture. I see their point in some ways, but there is something to be said for making new and different information more readily available to readers.

The investigative reporting that people like Chris Davis are doing at the Sarasota Herald Tribune is only enhanced by the graphics and databases made available to the public through their research. I was amazed at the amount of work put into one story about teachers’ rap sheets and how schools just “pass the trash” with teachers who require disciplinary action. It took five people, four months, for twelve hours a day, to go through 50,000 pages of public records to create a database that showed which teachers have been disciplined and why. I applaud these journalists for their dedication. Stories like these are important for insuring that the practices of our society are kept in the light.

Another interesting story that required much time and effort brought up a fifty year old murder case that was still on public file. I found it interesting that this case was brought up because a reporter was looking for another story. The reporters were able to reconstruct the crime scene from reports they found. They created an interactive graphic to allow readers to navigate through the crime scene and discover important clues in the case. Making news accessible and interactive will keep journalism relevant to the current generation.
I appreciated Davis’ comments on the payoff of this kind of journalism. Even though sometimes hours and hours of research may lead to a dead end, it could lead to a change in the laws. In the teachers story, administrators were given stricter laws on what they had to disclose about disciplinary action with a teacher who was let go. This law has the potential to stop the “pass the trash” pattern of sending bad teachers to other schools. This power to effect change is what makes journalism worth the work.

This kind of investigative database reporting intrigues me. I find it to be one of the most relevant ways of finding and displaying truth. Like with the teachers case, reporters can uncover truth about a situation in a systematic, research-based way, and then communicate it in a easy-to-use manner with a database or graphic online.

It's not always sunshine with Florida's public records laws

During my time in this class I've learned how blessed we are to live a state with such open public records because of our "Government in the Sunshine". Don't get me wrong I appreciate the efforts of our governors and legislators to make sure our records and meetings stay public. I do feel blessed that we live in a state where you can request public records with ease and go to most public meetings. However, after hearing Tim Nickens, editor of editorials at the St. Petersburg Times, speak about the problems and loopholes in our "Sunshine Laws" I have second thoughts.
As Gil mentioned during the class, reporters are actually a benefit to public officials in keeping them accountable and accurate. Without journalists as "flies on the wall" to make sure officials are competent and doing what they promised our representative government will cease to represent us at all.
It concerns me to know that there are loopholes around keeping public meetings public. In the case of the governor being able to keep his meetings with his colleagues private by simply turning all their "meetings" into phone converstaions is appalling. The idea that these officials think this is beneficial to how our government runs is beyond me. The basis of our representative government is that those represented know that their elected officials are doing their job. And it is our job as reporters to make sure this happens. When officials are masking their meetings as dinner parties all over Tallahassee it seems to me that something in our government is broken.
In the case of public records, things not always sunny either. The debate over electronic media is a crucial one at this time. Most of our records and all other aspects of our lives are being converted into electronic files and formats. People's fears about privacy are blinding them to the fact that public documents, whether paper or electronic, need to be easily accessible to the public. If we start to make court documents for example private for fear that someone online will use the information for evil we will start to go down a slippery slope of making other important documents private.
I understand people's desire for privacy. It can be scary in a world of identity theft and the threat of "Big Brother" like governments. But we cannot let fear keep us from holding the republican ideals that keep our public officials from spending taxpayer money inappropiately or hiding information that is important to public interest.
Again, I still appreciate the laws we have here in Florida. But I want people to be aware that there is still a fight for our public meetings and documents. Thank goodness for institutions like the First Amendment Foundation that are still in the fight to keep our public records "in the sunshine".