Editor: For not the first, second, or even third time, announcement of the meeting of the board of trustees of the Jefferson School District has been excluded from the public announcements listed in the 'Coming' section of the 'Info' page of the Tracy Press, while other local districts have been listed. This time, tonight's meeting of the New Jerusalem District is listed while Jefferson's is again missing. The Jefferson School District has the second largest enrollment in Tracy, and yet smaller districts seem to have priority over ours with regard to these announcements. In the past, I have observed similar exclusions of Jefferson’s meeting while the meetings of districts such as Banta and Lammersville are listed.
Space cannot be used as a valid argument, as in Tuesday’s edition there appears plentiful white space available to include our meeting announcement.
I have raised this issue with both the district and the newspaper more than once beginning over four years ago. One of my primary motivations to serve on the board of trustees was to help raise community awareness and involvement in the decision-making process within our district, and I have expressed that directly with members of the editorial board of this publication.
The numerous occasions of this type of exclusion offer convincing evidence for the possible existence of bias, indifference and/or ineptitude on behalf of our local press. How sad? Fortunately, there remains opportunity for redemption. How 'bout it?
Daniel Wells
Jefferson School District trustee