Addressing the WIS Community,

The International Dateline would like to provide its perspective on the controversial column published recently in The Washington Post, “Note to school administrators: Listen to parents. They might know a thing or two,” regarding the WIS administration’s approach to racial issues. The piece discusses an incident at WIS where a racial slur was written on a primary school bathroom wall, along with one primary school parent’s complaints about how WIS deals with race. Dateline recognizes the problematic racial issues at WIS and that the administration has room to improve. While the article is a column piece with a clear opinion, the single perspective depicted in the column does not represent the voice of the entire WIS community or speak to how the administration addresses race in general. The columnist, Jay Mathews, did not talk to any other WIS parents or any students, and used the voice of one parent to portray the entire school. It’s simply irresponsible journalism that wouldn’t meet the standard of our school newspaper, yet it was published in one of the most prestigious newspapers in America. In addition, the focus of the article is unclear, as the title discusses how school administrations address parental concerns, whereas the content makes it an article about the problems with the way WIS handles racial issues. Therefore, Dateline plans to produce its own article on the matter, incorporating various student, parent, and faculty perspectives to achieve the holistic view on the topic of race at WIS that the Post couldn’t achieve. In an upcoming Dateline article, there will be thorough reporting on the WIS community’s reactions to the article and the accounts of WIS students, parents, and teachers on the racial situation at WIS. As aspiring journalists, we would like to use our platform to provide a truthful and objective account of the racial situation at WIS.

The Dateline Editorial Board