You’re invited! Come meet Ashland Source’s education reporter at public office hours

ASHLAND — I’m trying something new.

Starting this month, I’ll be hosting public office hours, and you’re invited! Pull up a chair, sit down, introduce yourself and fill me in.

I’m especially interested in anything education-related. That’s what I focus on here at Ashland Source, and there’s no shortage of things happening in that realm. We’ve got school levies coming up on the May ballot; a reconfiguration effort at Ashland City Schools; and a D-II university with a huge impact on the community, to name a few.

But, if you’ve got questions about our reporting at Ashland Source, or topics you think we should be digging into, I want to know that too.

But why? What’s the point?

I can attend school board meetings, visit classrooms and build connections with administrators. All of that is important, and I’m really grateful to all those who’ve taken the time to develop relationships with me. They enable me to tell the story of how our school districts are educating children.

But, I feel like I’m missing important perspectives by not having a bridge where Ashland County residents can talk to me on their own terms.

Maybe you’re a parent or grandparent with a student in one of the local districts, and you’ve got a story to share about your experience.

Perhaps you’re an alum of Ashland University, or a local high school, and you want to fill me in on the history of your school.

Or, maybe you simply live here and have an opinion or a question about something happening in the schools that you want to talk about. You can always submit questions to our Open Source portal — but, sometimes it’s nice to talk to someone, face-to-face, and understand them.

That’s what these “public office hours” are for. They’re so you can meet me, on your own terms. So you can fill me in on what’s happening in your sliver of the world, and help me tell a more complete story about education in Ashland County.

I hope to see you there.