Marshwood High School: Possibilities of a Private Policy

South Berwick- Take a moment to recall your high school days-- walking down the familiar hallways, smiling at the faces you’ve grown up with as they pass by, participating in clubs, committees, and teams, celebrating camaraderie at pep-rallies, finally getting somewhat of a choice in the classes you had to sit through... the list goes on. With the current economic crisis, these fond memories may soon be nothing more but mere recollections of the way life used to be. A school district in southern Maine struggles to keep these memories of such opportunity alive and progressing for those in anticipation of attending Marshwood High School.

Since September of 2008, the state of Maine has faced a $200 million shortfall in education in the shadow of the national economic crisis. This translates to a $68 million loss to the school district MSAD #35, who depends heavily on state funding. If not for the $827,000 received from the Federal Stimulus Package, MSAD #35 would have been nearly $1.3 million dollars short of it’s typical funds this fiscal year. This federal aid will not be coming in next year, leaving Marshwood High School in a scramble to prepare for a financially trying bout.

Marshwood has already put a budget freeze into action, and if no solution to this financial problem is found, a salary freeze will be initiated as well as a cut back on employees and programs offered to students. This has stirred up much concern with the community, as such measures have significantly reduced the quality of education in the past. Since the last economic downfall in the 1980’s, Marshwood has worked hard to re-build its reputation as a successful, competitive, college-preparatory high school.

After much research and contemplation, the Marshwood Board of Directors has come up with a possible solution to Marshwood’s financial woes.

Starting in September 2010, Marshwood High School will admit and tuition 10 non-residential students who apply before April 30th. This policy is subject to an annual review where the school board may adjust the amount of students accepted to what is best for the school and its community.

As of next year, the tuition will be roughly $8,700 a year plus a $500 application fee. This yields an $8,400 profit for Marshwood for each student admitted to the high school. With 10 non-residential students admitted, this means a $84,000 profit for the year.

While this profit will serve as a solution for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, the school board has confessed an ulterior motive; they are looking at eventually “tuitioning in” another town’s high school students to the present Eliot/South Berwick district.

Traip Academy of Kittery, Maine is a neighboring high school facing similar, yet magnified financial struggles. In addition to dwindling funds, the enrollment rate is lower than ever at 280 students, and is projected to continue to fall. The town of Kittery is now considering closing the high school only two years after shutting down their elementary school.

Marshwood High was built with the intention of holding up to 1,100 students. Currently, there are 750 students enrolled in the high school leaving empty class rooms, and great potential to grow.

If Kittery residents were to attend Marshwood by paying the $8,700 tuition, MSAD #35 would be capable of not only providing more programs and opportunities than they currently do, but also would be able to afford to hire many of the teachers currently employed at Traip Academy.

This integration of Kittery high school students, however, depends on whether or not the town decides to close down Traip Academy. Also, citizens of Eliot and South Berwick must vote in favor of combining kids from the three towns. In anticipation of this possibility, Marshwood and Traip school committees have formed a subcommittee to discuss this option in a proactive manner.

As for now, Marshwood awaits the new-coming school year with the assimilation of the10 tuition-paying students in hopes that it will save the school from further financial detriment.

Discover how planets and moons throughout the universe can influence our survival here on earth

Orono- Galactic voyagers share their discoveries and research in a Omnidome presentation at the University of Maine's Maynard F. Jordan Planetarium. Every Friday in the month of March from 7 to 8 p.m. locals are invited to join these scientists in exploring the ice planets of our Universe including our very own planet's polar caps.

In celebration of International Polar Year, this "Ice Worlds" presentation explains how Earth's polar ice caps and places alike throughout the Universe affect our world today and its near future. In attending, you can expect to see animated scenes of what may be in store for our planet, as well as satellite images and real footage.

These images come to life in the Jordan Planetarium's Omnidome. This is a projection system designed to fill up the entire dome, giving each audience member a unique experience as they are surrounded by the sounds and visuals of our Universe and its ice worlds. All Omnidome presentations are $3 a ticket, or free with a MaineCard. Any questions or comments may be directed towards Alan Davenport at 207-581-1341 or info@galaxymaine.com.

Newscast Critique

In a recent newscast, CNN's Tony Harris reported on Pricilla Minter, a school teacher hoping for Congress' help as she battles colon cancer and its subsequent financial strains.

Harris begins the segment with dialogue to grab the attention of his audience. "I didn't eat enough to have my stomach get that big. Some people thought I was pregnant" explains the school teacher in the first few seconds of the newscast. Harris continues with his report introducing Mr. and Mrs. Minter's issue at hand: colon cancer. The report continues to explain background information up to the point where the couple stands now.

Throughout the piece, Harris switches between past and present tense in describing the couple's struggle through Mrs. Minter's diagnosis and treatment. Typically in writing, it is favorable to stay consistent throughout the work with one tense, but in this script, the inconsistency is effective. When talking about the couple's past, Harris uses verbs like had, asked, gave, and was, and when describing the couple's present situation, verbs such as pays, looking, celebrates, lives, and is are used.

For the most part, Harris maintains an active voice only slipping into passive phrases once or twice. This script would be more powerful if he used statements such as "The insurance company charged her..." rather than "She was charged... by the insurance company.

To wrap it up, Harris ends with another sample of dialogue urging congress to focus less on the division of parties and more on families that need healthcare reform. The closing of this newscast is compelling and leaves a lasting impression on the audience.

This piece maintains the audience's interest with an engaging lead and closing. It also had a generally consistent, concise, and informative body and is a newscast worthy of being described as greatly effective.

Cancer Patient Pushes Congress

The Future of Journalism at the Hands of Convergence and Consolidation

Upon hearing the word "journalism," connotations of Channel 2 anchor Chris Facchini, or the Bangor daily newspaper may pop in to a the mind of typical Maine citizen here in the Greater Bangor Area. These familiar and comforting local news sources, however, will soon be lost not only in Maine, but throughout the country due to convergence and consolidation in journalism.

Convergence is the new buzz word in journalism, referring to the luxury that devices such as Blackberries, iphones, and laptop computers provide. Every day such devices are used as travel agencies, phone books, radios, mp3 players, maps, cameras, movie theaters, TVs, and most importantly, news sources. It would be a great mistake to interpret this as just another source of media to compete with TV, radio, and news papers; the digitization of media is indeed competing, but also replacing these more primitive sources of media (Global Information, Inc.).

While convergence diminishes the significance of non-digital media sources, consolidation causes the disappearance of local as well as bold and aggressive news. Consolidation is a technique used by large corporations to make a larger profit by buying out smaller companies. With respect to journalism, consolidation leads to a small number of business owners controlling the content presented by a large variety of media outlets. When large corporations control the information distributed, many problems arise.

One disadvantage of consolidation is the lack of aggressive journalism. Because large corporations own so many outlets, profit, rather that societal importance, becomes the main goal. In order to gain profit, the owners of these corporations select writers that comply to their personal beliefs and values to write about mainstream topics that are easily embraced by large portions of the public. Because the audience target is so large, anything bold, or dynamic is not included in reports, and the journalism becomes moderate. In addition, the large audience causes local news to become obsolete. News worthy issues in one particular community does not appeal to people throughout the country, and would not, therefore, produce a profit for the corporation.

If consolidation and convergence continues down its path in journalism, we can kiss our newspapers and local news stations goodbye. These familiar sources of news are being bought up by larger corporations, and outcompeted by digital devices. In addition, the independent and aggressive style a dwindling few long for will soon disappear. With the combination of convergence and consolidation, news will be drastically different than it has been for generations. This is the future of journalism, but the true question is does this change need to be addressed, or is it simply the continuing evolution of information and communication?

Contemporary Critique

In a recent article written by CNN editor David Challenger, the efforts of fighting the global crime of sex trafficking was described through the experiences of a young woman named Joy.

The lead in this article was both concise and captivating, using only one sentence to grab the reader. Challenger writes, "Sitting in the backyard garden of a women's outreach center, a woman recounts a life that seems to belie her young age of 20 and her name, Joy." Immediately I had an image in my head of a young woman sitting somberly in a beautiful green garden as she recalled her life's journey up until that instant. I wondered about why her life was such a contradiction to her cheerful name, and so I read on.

Of the many great things about this article, three components stand out. Throughout the piece, Challenger maintained an active voice which kept the reading interesting and vivid. Also, to enhance the flow, the writer used the past tense throughout the entire article. It is important to do this when writing in order to stay consistent and to avoid confusion for the reader. The third element I enjoyed about this article was the sequence in which the writer unveiled parts of the story. He started with a woman's recollection of her life as a victim of the global sex industry, introduced the organization that saved her (as well as many other women), exposed the roots of the problem, and finally elucidated the ongoing ignorance, selfishness, and complacency driving this injustice by sharing an interview with a tourist in a bar in which Joy used to work. I enjoyed how the writer started with just a little information at the surface, then dug deep, and ended back at the surface with a significant impact.

While this was a very well written article, there was one small change I would make if I had the chance. Within the story, a city called "Angeles" was mentioned on several occasions, and it wasn't until the fifth appearance of the name that the writer clarified the pronunciation, "Anglease." I wouldn't go as far to say that the clarification was unnecessary, as most audience members of CNN are from the U.S. and would most likely pronounce the city as they would in "Los Angeles," but it would be more appropriate to include the correct pronunciation after the first time "Angeles" was mentioned.

Over all, this article was interesting and educational all the while exemplifying many characteristic elements of a well written work.

Filipino group helps women find life outside of trafficking

Morality in Journalism

Often times, journalists encounter heart staking issues of morality while doing their job. These obstructions are ultimately resolved by choosing what is more important to the writer—their job, or the respect of the person of whom they are reporting. A couple examples of this moral dilemma stick in my mind from this past summer both involving extramarital affairs of U.S. Senators.

On June 15, 2009 Senator John Ensign admitted to a 9 month affair with former employee, Cindy Hampton (Cillizza, Washington Post). In a blog covering this story, Jim Rutenberg of New York Times The Caucus made the decision to include the name of Mrs. Hampton’s son. While it is in the public’s best interest to be informed on the senator’s affair, the name of Mrs. Hampton’s son was not only unnecessary, but it added no more appeal to the story than if it was left out. This pointless disclosure of the son’s name only permits avoidable humiliation to a person undeserving of such vulnerability.

Rutenberg either released this person’s name without thinking anything of it, or intentionally made his decision after overcoming a moral dilemma. Perhaps this writer believed that by including the name of Hampton’s son, people may consider his article better researched than if he hadn’t. In this case, after weighing out his options, the journalist decided that his reputation was more important to him than the personal life of Hampton’s son. While at times journalists must decide against what may be considered morally right in order to benefit the greater society, Rutenberg crossed the line with this blog.

Another example of moral dilemmas in the media is a story on the extramarital affair of Senator Mark Sanford of South Carolina. This affair was widely covered this past summer in June due to its exotic appeal of a mistress in Argentina. The Senator, as well as many media resources, respected the privacy of Sanford’s mistress. Sanford apologized, and explained to some extent the details of his affair tastefully. For NY Daily News reporter Helen Kennedy, however, this was not enough. On June 25, 2009 she reported in the bold headline of the article “Maria Belen Shapur Identified as South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s Argetine Mistress (NY Daily News).”

While this moral dilemma may be more in the grey area than the example previously cited, it is still an issue of morality. By disclosing the name of Sanford’s mysterious mistress from Argentina, Kennedy certainly fed the curiosity of many readers. However, while it is important to inform citizens of a politician’s extramarital affair, it is not important or vital to society to know the name of a politician’s mistress. This journalist chose disclosure of the truth over the more moral choice of respecting a person’s privacy.

These are only two of many examples of moral conflicts a journalist will face in his or her career in disclosing truth. Day to day and case by case, it is necessary to make choices based on ones moral beliefs and ones job as a journalist. It is important to remember that morality is opinion, and whatever choice a journalist makes regarding disclosure of controversial information it is neither right nor wrong.

Sources:

• A Senator, an Affair, a Demand for Money

• Maria Belen Shapur Identified as South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s Argetine Mistress.

• Sen. Ensign Acknowledges an Extramarital Affair

Cillizza, Chris, Paul Kane. (June 17,2009). Sen. Ensign Acknowledges an Extramarital Affair.

The Washington Post,1. Retrieved January 15, 2010.

Kennedy, Helen. (June 25, 2009). Maria Belen Shapur Identified as South Carolina Governor Mark

Sanford’s Argetine Mistress. NY Daily News. Retrieved January 15, 2010.

Rutenberg, Jim. (June 19,2009). A Senator, an Affair, a Demand for Money. The Caucus. Retrieved

January 15, 2010.

CMJ 236 Welcome Post

I'm a third year student at the University of Maine studying Forest Ecosystem Science (FES) and Journalism. This past semester I decided to expand my opportunities in the working world by adding a Journalism Major to my almost completed FES major. This is, therefore, the first journalism course I have taken in the three years I have spent at the University. For me, it is worth staying an extra semester to get two degrees. With these two diverse majors, I will be qualified for a variety of jobs such as working in a lab, writing scientific articles on the environment, or writing on any topic that may interest me at the time. In addition to job opportunity, I added a journalism major out of sheer enjoyment of learning and writing, especially on topics of social justice. Due to the inclusion of the Journalism Major, I will need to take 18 credits each semester for the remaining 4 semesters. Although this will be challenging, I have confidence that I will be able to succeed.

Adding to the challenges of taking 18 credits per semester, I will be missing a few weeks of classes to donate the left lobe of my liver to my ill niece. She has a rare liver disease called Biliary Atresia where her liver is underdeveloped and is unable to let poisonous bile pass through her body. Because of this, she is experiencing liver failure and needs a transplant within the next 4 months. I will attempt to complete these few weeks online and make up what can't be done online once I have recovered enough to return to the University. I hope to do well in this course and to develop my writing skills as a future journalist.