Losing More Sets of Eyes on Frankfort

Art Jestor and Ravia Ismail, the former education reporters at the Lexington Herald-Leader, are both out the door for the final time at the newspaper.

Jestor and Ismail did the lion’s share of all education reporting at the newspaper. Whether or not you liked their coverage, they provided two more sets of informed eyes watching what was happening to 60 cents out of every dollar the taxpayers sent to Frankfort. They also covered more issues and events than any blogger so far has handled alone, providing an important set of inputs to this and other education-oriented blogs in the state.

The departure of these two reporters follows the total collapse last year of the Kentucky Post, an event which removed still more sets of eyes watching out for the public’s ability to know what was going on in Kentucky education.

Here are some things to consider.

Art Jestor informed me that at one time, the Herald-Leader had as many as six staffers covering the education scene. Will even one reporter wind up with this as a primary duty now that Jestor and Ismail have left? In other words, will whoever now covers education at the Herald-Leader be able to devote full concentration on the rather complex issues involved (for example, understanding the big differences between ACT scores for all 11th graders versus scores only for students who graduate, which a Herald-Leader pool reporter recently didn’t).

Will the amount of education coverage further decline at the Herald-Leader?

Will the articles seek out full comments from people with varied viewpoints or be more limited in scope because the reporter hasn't enough time to do full research?

If the paper abdicates its role as a major education news source, can/will the work be picked up by Web-based resources such as this blog?

And, what will be the long-term impacts on the citizens’ ability to monitor and participate in the shaping of informed policy in Kentucky?