Inside the editorial page
Inside the editorial page

This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.

Editorial board bloggers

Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com

Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.

Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.

Guest bloggers

Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.

Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.

Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.

Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.

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What's on the minds of Tacoma News Tribune editorial writers
Friday, February 27th, 2009
Posted by Cheryl Tucker @ 10:39:39 am

We just received a letter to the editor from the Tacoma Branch of the NAACP expressing opposition to the March 10 Tacoma school bond measure.

According to the letter from branch president Gregory Christopher:

I am writing divulging the Tacoma Branch NAACP opposition to the Tacoma School #10 Proposition No. 1. This proposition calling for $300 million in general obligation bonds will soon come to a vote in the Tacoma area. For the past 25 years, we in the NAACP Tacoma Branch have been working through various committees and have been challenged by each one in an effort to improve what takes place inside the school house.

The quality of education by all accounts has declined over the years, and we believe this is where our investment now needs to focus.

[More:]

The purpose of this proposition is to modernize the physical plant in this district. It proposes to continue the pattern of investment started in 2001, continued in 2002 and 2006. While the quality of facility is important, when we have invested almost three quarters of a billion dollars in the facade of education and witnessed a steady decline in the quality of education received by our children, We think it is time to change.

We think that this is an important proposition. It will consume resources the community may not be able to gather again for quite some time. The consequence in our view is a lost opportunity to focus on the real mission and priority of public education.

The facade of education in our humble opinion while deserving of appropriate attention is blotting out the sun of knowledge and leaving our children short changed. We urge the community in Tacoma School # 10 for the sake of our children, yours and ours, let's go back to the trestle board and invest in the education of our children.
Categories: Taking notice, Election