Thread by @petercook

Thx for your reply. A few things... I compared both versions of the story - the one posted on @WWNO and the one on Hechinger - and not only are they both riddled w/ problems, but they are exactly the same, minus the headline... #NOLAed #LaEd #edreform | 1/10

https://twitter.com/TeganWendland/status/1123666325782573058

And no, I'm not going to email you directly b/c I've already gone through line-by-line and highlighted the problems with the story, including the factual errors in the piece, which you can go through here: genius.it/hechingerrepor… #NOLAed #LaEd #edreform | 2/10

But the factual errors pale in comparison to the much bigger problem with the piece: critical parts of the story which would undermine the contention that charters are to blame for McDonogh #35's struggles are completely omitted... #NOLAed #LaEd #edreform | 3/10

As I emphasize in my annotations, the piece completely omits any mention of #35's struggles prior to 2015, when Supt. Lewis took office & RSD charters began to return to OPSB, which is a convenient way to try to pin the blame on charter schools... #NOLAed #LaEd #edreform | 4/10

For example, Clark never mentions that #35 reopened as a 7-12 school & the middle school was such a chaotic mess & caused so many problems that OPSB eventually spun it off as a separate school in '12, before completely closing it down in '15... #NOLAed #LaEd #edreform | 5/10

Things weren't much better in HS. Ex: in '12-'13 (long before OPSB's focus on charters) #35 had the worst end-of-course results in the district (nola.com/education/2013…); in 2014, only 36% of #35 students were college ready (nola.com/education/2014…) #NOLAed #LaEd #edreform | 6/10

NONE of these pre-2015 problems appear in Clark's story. Instead, she leaves readers w/ the impression that everything was going swimmingly until charters started coming back OPSB and they consumed all of the district's attention... #NOLAed #LaEd #edreform | 7/10

Plus Clark doesn't verify any of the claims made by her anonymous sources (folks w/ an axe to grind b/c they might not be rehired by InspireNOLA) but simply presents them as fact; she should have sought out data that confirmed them or left them out. #NOLAed #LaEd #edreform | 8/10

And while I don't know who those anonymous folks are, I have suspicions; a number of UTNO officers & members work at #35; also interesting to note that UTNO head Jim Randels, who has a Jimmy Hoffa-like profile in the city, makes an appearance... #NOLAed #LaEd #edreform | 9/10

So you may stand by your story, but know it comes at the expense of @WWNO's reputation. Why will #NOLAed folks will want anything to do with you when WWNO participated in a completely unfair, even illogical attack on our schools? It's hugely disappointing #LaEd #edreform | 10/10