Some time back we reported on difficulties the Chronicle was having in getting the Croton-Harmon school district to be responsive to press inquiries in a manner appropriate to a government body run by public officials. While the district would stick to the letter of the law, for example by fulfilling New York Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests, at a certain point both the superintendent of schools, Stephen Walker, and the president of the school board, Ana Teague, began to refuse to respond to requests for both information and comment.
These refusals began at the same time, suggesting that they were the result of a coordinated policy decision between the Board of Education and district administrators. As for why, it is no secret that the Chronicle has published many articles critical of the district and its officials, as is appropriate for an independent press in a community such as ours. Those stories also reflected concerns by many parents of children in the district, whose dissatisfaction with its leadership has manifested itself in two consecutive elections cycles.
But the policy of obstruction of press coverage and refusal to talk to a reporter also had the effect of making it impossible for us to do the kinds of positive stories we would like to publish about our schools.
Eventually we turned to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), the nation’s leading press freedoms organization, for legal help. In a report published June 29, the RCFP described its involvement in the situation and its communication with the school district in an attempt to make officials more responsive to press inquiries.
The good news is that this effort was at least partly successful: After nearly a full year of refusing to comment on any questions posed by the Chronicle, both Teague and Walker have begun responding again, a development that is in the best interests of the district, parents and children, and the press freedoms we are celebrating as part of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
As an example, Teague recently provided the Chronicle with a detailed update on the upcoming installation this summer of new audiovisual equipment in the high school library, so that parents and other interested parties can watch BoE meetings remotely, which is good news for the entire community; and we received helpful cooperation from Walker with our coverage of the school district elections this past May.
In the not so distant past, district officials would refuse to discuss basic matters as important to parents and children as the timing of the installation of air conditioning at the elementary school.
It seems clear that RCFP’s involvement helped greatly to improve communications. As the RCFP reported:
Last November, [Chronicle editor Michael] Balter decided to contact the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press for help. Through the Reporters Committee’s free Legal Hotline, Balter connected with Annie Seminara, RCFP’s E.W. Scripps Legal Fellow, and explained the difficulties he was experiencing with the school district.
Seminara and Jennifer Nelson, the Reporters Committee’s director of pre-publication review and journalist support, responded by writing a letter in February to the school district that expressed concerns about school officials’ refusal to properly treat Balter as a member of the news media.
“These actions raise serious First Amendment concerns and are inconsistent with the District’s Media Relations policy,” the letter stated. “[W]e respectfully request that the District commit to providing all members of the press — including Michael Balter and The Croton Chronicle — equal access to press releases and other information issued by the District, starting immediately.”
In a written response, the district denied that its actions raised First Amendment concerns or that they were inconsistent with school policies. However, the district agreed to include Balter in future correspondence with the news media.
The report also points to what might have originally triggered the district’s stonewalling, and how its refusal to engage with local media might have been retaliation for the Chronicle’s critical coverage:
“At the time, [Balter] had been reporting on the district’s ethics rules and investigating allegations concerning certain school officials.”
In fact, the Chronicle reported on one such case, and also had begun investigating allegations of ethical lapses by another senior school district administrator, an investigation which is ongoing. While we cannot say anything more about that at this time, those inquiries may explain, at least in part, the shutting down of communication.
Government officials, elected and appointed, are not allowed under First Amendment law and judicial precedent to retaliate against journalists for their reporting, even if it is at times critical of them. Thus we hope that, thanks to the RCFP’s intervention, the Chronicle will now be better able to fulfill its mission of keeping the public informed.
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Excellent journalism! This is precisely the duty of a free press. Local reporting such as this issue is the very daylight needed to prevent local governance on all levels from becoming fiefdoms. Bravo!
This is another example of a troubling pattern with the COH BOE, that meaningful responses often seem to come only after outside pressure is applied. Whether through media attention, such as the NYT article, community engagement on Facebook, or involvement from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the consistent result has been the same, only after third-party attention does the BOE appear to listen, respond, and accept a greater level of accountability.
That should concern the community. Residents should not have to rely on outside organizations, public pressure, or media scrutiny simply to be heard. Transparency, responsiveness, and accountability should be standard practices of the BOE, not reactions that occur only when the district is forced into the spotlight.