Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Middletown School Propoganda: For the Children or Waste of Money?

Existing App for News from MPS

Blue Prints is a student run newspaper at Middletown High School and has been for over a decade.Blue Prints is a Gold Medallist winner from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. The newspaper, run entirely by students, is funded through local advertisers. According to the Middletown public schools website "it  is a traditional newspaper to inform, entertain, and serve as open forum for student/community opinion."

Are there still not enough ways to find out MPS news?
It was run for years by teacher Jim Bransfield during his tenure at Middletown High. Bransfield also was a featured sports writer for the Middletown Press and celebrated announcer at Palmer Field for many years. Bransfield, now retired from being a high school politics teacher, is  now a para-educator at the Board of Education. Patch a subsidiary of AOL-Time Warner run by editor and veteran journalist Cassandra Day. Patch features blog articles by guest writers and some paid staff bloggers. The Insider find the Patch of the most unbias media publications in Middletown, and a refreshing alternative to other blogs and papers.
Is there really anyone against education?
 In the past few weeks, various feel good articles touting Middletown Public Schools many activities and accomplishments have popped up on Patch written by Bransfield. See an example here: http://middletown-ct.patch.com/announcements/mhs-dance-team-wins-state-title-again The writing quality of Bransfield is unquestionably superb, we at the Insider recognize that, hear- but is this expense needed? The BOE is paying to toot it's own horn.

 However, the question is why are these not being written by students such as those writing for Blue Prints? The board of education is paying a professional writer, who happens to be Bransfield, to write these press releases and attend the events. Is this a  necessary communication tool to the community?

Each school principal produces a parent newsletter available on the Middletown Public Schools website of good things happening at each school on a monthly basis, so why not use this information? 

Is the BOE really spending taxpayer money wisely paying a professional writer to produce propoganda? If it is for the children, how does this help their education when it seems an opportunity to have students write being squandered?

3 comments:

  1. Speaking of technology - the former MPS IT Director Bob Polselli just lost his IT Director job in Norwalk for using the school district credit card to pay for for over $2,000 worth of personal items for his airplane.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JB is Tommy's whipping boy- everybody knows it... He gets little caveots throghout city due to his promoton of propoganda being a "YES MAN" on all pro -DEM issues..

    ReplyDelete
  3. The is ridiculous for Bransfield to be triple dipping like this! I could see paying him to teach a writing class but for some kind of propoganda writer is a huge waste-
    And selfish on his part.

    ReplyDelete

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