District pulls ads from local paper

By Freddy Jimenez

editor@sbnewspaper.com

 

In an unprecedented move, citing “reckless reporting” the San Benito Consolidated Independent School District, at the Superintendent’s mandate, ceased all advertising last week from the San Benito News. This included a district page which featured the accolades of the district’s students and staff.

The decision followed a story published by the News which focused on a packet this publication received addressed to the CEO of the Southwest Key Program non-profit, whom the Federal Government contracted to assist in housing migrant children separated from their guardians upon crossing the border. Earlier this year Southwest Key entered into a monetary agreement with a number of school districts, among them SBCISD, to educate the children held at those facilities. After the Texas Education Agency (TEA) decided that it was not the State’s but the Federal Government’s responsibility to educate the sheltered children, the agreement between both institutions collapsed.

The opening letter attached to the packet was published in its entirety in last week’s edition of the News, along with a follow up report from the week prior, citing concerns and other issues involving the agreement with the school district and Southwest Key.

Be that as it may, the district, however, took issue with the original story that cited the packet, saying it was not given a fair opportunity to comment due to what was later identified to be miscommunication between the reporter who was working on the story and the district official whom the comment was requested from.

At a school board meeting held last week on September 11, the News had the opportunity to interview SBCISD Superintendent of Schools Dr. Nate Carman. After the meeting, Carman commented, “I think the article that came out represented maybe reckless reporting. And that’s not something I want San Benito CISD associated with.”

 

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2018/09/21/district-pulls-ads-from-local-paper/

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