COLUMN: One year, three reporting projects

ASHLAND — I don’t know about each of you, but this year feels like it’s both wrapped up in a blink, and like I’ve simultaneously lived 10 lifetimes.

I’m trying to decide if that’s what adulthood is, or if that’s how your 20s feels, or if I simply am crazy. Weigh in if you’ve got thoughts…

Whatever the answer, this year, Ashland Source has produced some interesting journalism.

For me, the year breaks into three clear phases when I worked on reporting projects.

Now, don’t get me wrong — our day-to-day coverage is incredibly important. Attending school board meetings, writing features on what students are accomplishing in their classrooms and building connections with local business owners all matters. Our stories about elections and the county fair keep Ashland County informed.

Those stories do the hard work of tying our community together.

But these projects happen in addition to all of that. They’re months-long undertakings that allow our reporters to dig deeply into a topic, offering coverage that goes beyond the surface.

This year, I tackled three projects — one solo, and two of them working with other incredible staff members here at Source Media Properties. They focused on:

• The challenge of chronic absenteeism, and how one school district is effectively combating it.
• Workforce development in north central Ohio, and the perennial question of how we can keep our young people here to ward off brain drain.
• Funding that our county’s public school districts and Ashland University received from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Chronic absenteeism: A people business

I kicked off this year examining the challenge of chronic absenteeism.

Chronic absenteeism refers to students missing large swaths of the school year, and like so many struggles in education, the COVID pandemic only exacerbated the problem.

School districts across the country have tried decreasing their chronic absenteeism rates. But, those rates are decreasing slowly. Finding the right mix of solutions to combat that challenge and get students in the building is a puzzle.

At Ashland City Schools, it’s a puzzle where the pieces are beginning to come together.

As I explored local rates of chronic absenteeism, I noticed Ashland City Schools experienced a pronounced drop between the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years. So, I asked what they did.

The answer resulted in two months of reporting, and a three-part Solutions Journalism series.

What did I find? Chronic absenteeism’s impact is lessened when you give a school district the right tools, and when all the staff in a building take the problem onto their shoulders.

A combination of a program that gave secretaries a better ability to track when students were nearing critical absence levels; a dedicated attendance counselor; and building administrators who’ll do anything it takes to get students to show up were the factors that made the difference for Ashland City Schools to drop its rate.

Tomorrow’s Talent

Beginning in March, the ever-talented Katie Ellington Serrao and Grace McCormick — both reporters at our newsroom in Richland County — tapped me in to help out with a series about workforce development.

What began as a suggestion that we look into declining rates of college enrollment bloomed into a far larger undertaking.

Our trio of reporters tackled that question and more.

We conducted a survey of more than 1,100 local high school students; another survey of nearly 100 local business leaders; and wrote 20 stories that spanned the gamut from how businesses are working to upskill their employees to what Gen Z wants from their careers.

At the end of six months’ of reporting, we learned collaboration is key when it comes to retaining workers. Bringing together businesses, schools and higher education to help students develop their skills is critical.

Plus, working together allows students to discover jobs and opportunities they can have right here. Those opportunities are plentiful — if you know where to look.

Follow the (ARPA) money

Last, but certainly not least, Dillon Carr began work in July on a Poynter-funded project to track down how every dollar of money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was spent in the county.

In August, he asked me to help. The six public school districts in the county received $13.1 million from ARPA. Ashland University got another $16.9 million. As our education reporter, that money and how it was spent mattered to me, too.

I cannot emphasize enough just how diligent and knowledgeable Dillon was over the course of this project.

The eight stories we wrote about education only comprised about a third of the series.

The rest? Well, Dillon looked at how the city of Ashland, the county, villages and townships spent their money. It was in-depth, well-done and a true act of accountability journalism.

So what?

Now, you might be asking yourself: looking back on these three projects — why does it matter?

My answer?

Telling stories about our community that go beneath the surface is the very definition of sharing the whole story.

That’s what we at Ashland Source charge ourselves with. We don’t just want to tell you the who, what, where, and when. We want you to understand the why and how.

These projects are only a few examples of times we’ve dug into those questions this year — but my hope is that they’re impactful examples. Examples that matter and are relevant to you, because what we do isn’t possible without your trust and buy-in.

So, thanks for following along through a year of great journalism in 2024. I hope you’ll stick with us for another one in 2025.