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Permission granted by Christ Waugaman
Education Dive
School news teams find 'inner strength' reporting historic pandemic
Like all students, high school journalists are struggling with the loss
of social connections, but they’ve adapted their coverage to keep
serving their readers.
Linda Jacobson
May 4, 2020
When California’s Sequoia Union High School District considered a
credit/no credit grading policy last month, Lora Simakova, a reporter
for Carlmont High School’s Scot Scoop, tuned in to a virtual school
board meeting to cover the decision.
The sophomore posted her story within a couple hours and ended up having the only local coverage of the decision.
“The parents and community all linked to that as they debated the
results on Facebook and Nextdoor,” said Justin Raisner, an English
teacher whose course includes publishing the site and a news magazine.
Students are graded for their work, but he adds they tend to give more
attention to their reporting assignments “because it still feels real
and relevant.”
Whether they’re following district decisions over end-of-year grades,
reporting on the latest health warnings or sharing first-person
accounts of school closures, high school news teams haven't been
stalled by COVID-19 from publishing timely articles for their audiences.
Already adept at using online publishing and design tools, many student
reporters have made a smooth transition to remote work. “Our media team
operates normally about 90% in the cloud,” said Chris Waugaman, an
English and journalism teacher at Prince George High School in
Virginia. And they’ve learned, he said, that “every day is a news day”
with health and government officials regularly updating the press.
But editors and writers also recognize how the limitations of reporting remotely are affecting their coverage.
“Yes, you can talk on the phone with someone,” said Veronica
Roseborough, a senior at Carlmont and the editor-in-chief of Scot Scoop
news site. “But you can't really do justice to what they are saying if
you are not there talking to them and witnessing their reactions.”
Coverage for the Scot Scoop team reflects broader patterns of how
student journalists have positioned their reporting during the
pandemic. Some are tracking cases of COVID-19 in their communities,
following issues related to device and meal distribution and comparing
district responses to the crisis — as PLD Lamplighter, the news site
for Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Lexington, Kentucky, did with
the Fayette County and Jefferson County systems.
“Journalism students are among the nation’s most innovative
problem-solvers, so they’re taking this in stride as they tell the
important stories of their school communities,” said Sarah Nichols,
president of the Journalism Education Association and a career and
technical education teacher at Whitney High School in Rocklin,
California.
“In many cases, the global health crisis has given them a renewed sense
of purpose because they know their role documenting history matters
more than ever — especially journalism students working on the
yearbook.”
Nichols’ students had the opportunity to do on-site reporting when
Whitney High had “a carefully coordinated cap and gown pick-up for
seniors,” but for the most part, students are reporting by phone, email
and social media. Audrey Boyce, a junior at Carlmont and a Scot Scoop
editor, said she’s learned to be “more flexible and understanding that
people may not be able to get the previously required three sources.”
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