Cancellation of Saline High's Golden Sting newspaper in 2011 could cost it the hall of fame
For the eighth straight year, Saline High School's Golden Sting newspaper was voted among Michigan's best, winning the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association's "Spartan Award," the high school newspaper equivalent of winning a gold medal.
"It was a bittersweet moment, telling the kids that they'd won,"  said Mike Hill, who teaches the newspaper course at Saline. "Mostly because they can't follow it up next year."
In 2010-2011, the Golden Sting won't be offered at the high school, one of about 30 courses cut due to low enrollment.Â
That might cost the student newspaper a shot at greatness.
Including its latest victory, the Golden Sting has won the Spartan Award eight years running. Nine wins in a 10-year span would mean MIPA Hall of Fame honors for the Golden Sting.
Cheryl Pell, executive director of MIPA, said she's not sure whether the Golden Sting's year off will count toward the 10-year tally. She said such decisions are usually made on a case-by-case basis.
But if 2011 does count as an active year, then the defunct Golden Sting will have to return and win the Spartan Award in 2012 to earn a spot in MIPA's Hall of Fame. Nine newspapers and nine yearbooks are immortalized in the hall, which was founded in 2002. The Golden Sting would be the first hall of fame publication from Washtenaw County.
Beyond the Spartan Award, students on the Golden Sting also won 32 individual awards, including six for editor-in-chief Sarah Paterson.Â
Hill hoped that an exception to the class cancellation could be made on the basis of the paper's quality, but his efforts were unsuccessful.
Earlier this year, administrators set a cap of 25 students for classes at the high school. But by the end of class registration, only 21 students had signed up for the Golden Sting.
Hill doesn't see the Golden Sting returning in 2011 as a student-run extracurricular. Neither time nor quality concerns would allow it, he said.
"I could get four or five kids to come out, on their own time, and take it seriously," Hill said. "But then we wouldn't be publishing once a month, and we would lose a lot of the quality. It wouldn't really do the product justice to put out one or two thin issues a year."
If the Golden Sting is to return in 2012, Hill has a recruiting job on his hands next year. He hopes the paper's absence makes hearts grow fonder and makes students realize what they're missing.
Even so, the newspaper only has so much capacity, Hill said.
"We're in a catch-22 here," Hill said. "Enrollment was too low this year at 21, but if we get 30 kids signed up, that'd be too many."
Ever since the Golden Sting was eliminated from the 2011 schedule, Hill has been scheming up ways to accommodate greater numbers of students. One possible way is to focus more on specialization and less on rotating tasks between students.
"I might have to adjust my methods a bit," Hill said. "Hopefully I'll find a way to adjust that maintains the quality and the experience for the students."
James David Dickson can be reached at JamesDickson@AnnArbor.com.
Comments
Jacob Bodnar
Fri, May 7, 2010 : 10:34 a.m.
"The State Legislature never saw fit to require school districts to provide the "best educational experience" and/or "a fantastic social experience." The graduation requirements - and only those - are what the school district owes its students." That's complete bull and you know it. Schools are required to provide those courses, but it's up to the school to provide those courses via the "best educational experience." They aren't suppose to simply offer English courses, they are suppose to offer engaging and educational courses that will keep students interested and more importantly that will challenge students. For example Saline offers creative writing, world mythology, public speaking, and newspaper, as an English credits. They could simply have just plain English courses and be fine, but they have to offer courses that will challenge and engage students. If a school district doesn't want to do that, fine, but they'll likely see a massive decrease in student population as parents realize their kids are getting a poor education at best. The State sets broad requirements for students, leaving the district the ability to present that material and those courses in an engaging way. And part of that way is through a good social experience, that's a large component of high school, having students experience the social aspect. So to say that the only thing a district owes to its students are those broad requirements from the State is frightening. Those requirements are meant to give the district wiggle room so they can provide those outstanding educational experiences. And don't you think the State Legislature wants districts to provide the "best education experience" and a "fantastic social experience." I think that was kinda their goal when they drafted those requirements. At least I sincerely hope that was their goal. As for your suggestion for moving online, I'm not against that. When I was on staff I wanted to put our content online, I think it's important for students to understand that aspect of journalism, however, the vast majority of papers are still in print, and are still in daily print. So you HAVE to provide that side of production if you truly want to offer an experience that mirrors the real world. I do believe that in 15 years or so you'll finally see a majority of daily papers exclusively online, but the current market is still overwhelming in-print AND online. I'm not saying I don't want to see the paper formed into a club, in fact when I reached out to Mr. Hill upon hearing the demise of the paper that's the first thing I asked him. All I'm saying is I understand his reasoning for being skeptical of doing it, and I understand his frustration with the district. If we all truly believe that the district's job is to provide the best education possible for students, and who doesn't believe that, then they shouldn't cut class based solely on the number of students in the class, but rather cut class based on educational merit. I could understand cutting newspaper if it had, say, 15 people or less enrolled, but it was 4 away from the self imposed limit, and their limit on computers was 24 anyway. The district should have gave it pass, not only because of its success, but because of its special circumstances surrounding the equipment available. And because it provide a fantastic educational experience that districts often tout as their goal. Read the Saline High School mission state and tell me their goal isn't the best education possible... "The Staff of Saline High School will guide all students in the development of an educational plan consistent with each student's individual talents, interests, and aspirations. We will provide a comprehensive education and counseling program that will prepare our students for whatever endeavors they pursue beyond high school. We pledge to provide all students with the knowledge, skills and technological literacy necessary to become informed, productive citizens in the communities where they will live and work." If it's in their mission statement, then it is expected, and they owe it to the students. If The Golden Sting wants to start as a club and go exclusively online, that's fine with me, no argument here. But I still think it's important for students to understand the production side of a newspaper because that aspect is not dead yet and probably won't be dead when they graduate college. I'm honestly not saying it's a class or nothing, I want it to start as a club, but I trust Mr. Hill and if he says it's not feasible, I'll believe him.
YpsiLivin
Thu, May 6, 2010 : 7:57 a.m.
If your argument is about the paper, then it doesn't matter how the paper gets produced because the paper, and not the production process, is what's important. Much like the traditional dailies, the school paper could be transitioned to an online format, or a combined online-and-paper format. At the same time, this approach could help identify those students who are motivated to produce the paper, reduce the number of students needed to produce the paper, and allow the paper's content to become more timely. Everything would be on a rolling deadline and the content could be published whenever it's ready to go. This is the reality of newspapers, large and small, all over the country. Daily papers have been forced to find production efficiencies wherever they can; they're being asked to generate their product with fewer resources and fewer people. There's something suspect about preserving a production process that's outmoded; if you want to argue for the experience, the better experience would be one that mirrors the realities of today's news production processes. There's nothing sacred about the production process. The bottom line here is simple: change the process and keep the paper, or don't change the process and sleep well at night knowing that, although the paper is now gone, you didn't compromise the "integrity" of the paper's production process. The school district has made the decision that the classroom space and teacher are better applied to students and subjects that either have a broader appeal to the student population or that are required by the State. From their perspective, it's more efficient to have a teacher teach (maybe) 50 students one or two different subjects in the same amount of time the teacher had devoted to just the 20 or 25 who took the journalism class. State law requires districts to provide a basic education that meets certain standards: Four credits in English or language arts Four math credits One online learning or online course Three science credits, including biology, physics or chemistry, and an elective Three social science credits, including world history, geography, economics and civics One credit in visual, applied or performing arts Two foreign language credits One physical education/health credit As an online course or online experience, a journalism class could potentially meet the state requirements for English, online learning, and/or visual arts. The State Legislature never saw fit to require school districts to provide the "best educational experience" and/or "a fantastic social experience." The graduation requirements - and only those - are what the school district owes its students.
Jacob Bodnar
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 9:51 p.m.
@YpsiLivin I think I'm arguing passionately for the paper. My argument is very simple, newspaper is a fantastic educational tool, it's something you don't usually get in a high school class, it's education by virtue of actually doing and producing something. High school kids too often walk away from class thinking "when am I ever going to use this?" I never walked away from newspaper with that feeling. Mainly for two reasons, 1.) because I was actually doing a job that professional do, and if I wanted to I could use what I learned in newspaper and go be a professional, and 2.) because even if I didn't become a journalist I had learned how to write, and write well. I still claim that I've learned more from newspaper than any other English class I've ever taken, including college courses. So what does that have to do with my argument? I don't think it's fair to the small number of people that would join newspaper and to Mr. Hill to run the class as a club and limit the potential of the paper, it's not about producing a paper for the school, it's about producing a paper for the students producing the paper. So if ten students join the club, they won't get that education experience. They won't get the full attention of the advisor, and it won't be a meaningful educational experience. It is the school's responsibility to provide classes that are educationally fulfilling, not classes that are 25 students or more, that's unfair to the students. You didn't specifically imply that Mr. Hill was lazy, but you did say you thought he wasn't putting the interests of the students in mind and was underestimating their drive. Honestly, I took that personally. Newspaper made my high school experience. My first two years at SHS were defined by nothing, I did nothing, I came to school because I had to. Newspaper changed my outlook, I came to school for something and I enjoyed it. And I watched Mr. Hill push students to the limit and not just settle and give up. He knew kid's potential and he made sure that the kid's knew it as well. He loves that paper and he loves the kids on staff, and if he says that it's not worth it to run the paper as a club, I won't spend a second doubting him, and neither should you. They can try to run it as a club, but that's unfair to the students that want that experience. Newspaper is a rare application class, where students can immediately apply what they've learned, we need more classes like it, not less. I understand the numbers, I'm economically conservative, trust me I understand the school's argument. But the school has a duty to provide students with the best educational experience, the school should consider the "educational bang for the buck" when cutting classes, not simply the enrollment. Newspaper is a fantastic educational experience, and a fantastic social experience, that honestly changed my entire high school career. It's unfair and unconscionable to deny that experience to future classes.
Liane Golightly
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 8:28 p.m.
As a former Editor-in-Chief and Advertising Editor at The Golden Sting, I can honestly say that this story brought a tear to my eye. My two years on staff with Mr. Mike Hill were the greatest of my high school career and I owe most of my leadership skills and many of professional skills to this class. The great thing about The Golden Sting is that it is completely student driven. They write, they photograph, they sell ads, they create the reputation around the school and the community. I was with the paper when we won our third and fourth Spartan Awards. Those were incredible days! We were so proud of our product and that caused us to work even harder. What made it so special was our ability to own the product. Mr. Hill would push and push and push until we would have something to be proud of. He didn't let us settle. I know from my two classes many of us are now successful professionals in our own fields because of his tenacity. In my time, the amount of funding that the newspaper received from the school district was minimal at best. When I started, we were still using lightboards and rubber cement to put together the product that went to print. Mr. Hill would drive to Brooklyn (or another town in that general vicinity) to give them the hard copy and drive back two days later to pick up our completed papers. The only ways we supported the papers were by very, very cheaply priced ads and via Mock Rock as someone else has commented. It's sad that this is what it has had to come to. I wish that an exception could be made for something that has given so much to this wonderful community at SHS and in Saline in general. I know for a fact that SHS will not be the same without The Golden Sting. I think, however, that the uproar that this has caused should be reason enough to create an award for Mike Hill. It is evident that he has positively influenced more than his fair share of students who have wandered the halls at SHS. Lifetime achievement award, anyone? A hall named after him? Something needs to be done... even though he'd probably hate the fuss.
YpsiLivin
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 5:58 p.m.
@Jacob Bodnar, I never said or implied that " but rather the fault of the lazy and undetermined advisor". I'm saying that ultimately you need to decide what is more important: the paper or the process. (You seem to be arguing rather passionately that it's the process, btw.) There's more than one way to skin a cat, and there's more than one way to produce a school newspaper. If the newspaper is that vital to the Saline High School community, then the community needs to decide how best to continue producing the paper in a way that meets both the needs of the students and the enrollment requirements of the administration.
Duane Collicott
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 4:38 p.m.
So it has to change into something else, like a home-made, photocopied, stapled collection of pages. Back when I was High School (yeah, Pangea Central High) there were a couple underground papers that made the rounds, and the content in them was usually more interesting than in the official school paper. If the content is interesting, people will read it.
Jacob Bodnar
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 3:31 p.m.
@YpsiLivin Please, please, please...think before you speak, know what you're talking about before you whip out all your fancy math calculations. For starters the quality of the paper isn't simply put on the shoulders of the students and time, it also has a lot to do with the advisor, and I doubt that Mr. Hill has the time to devote to a massive after school under taking like that is. You can't even begin to understand the work that he puts into the paper, he reads through every story at least two times and gives suggestions and edits for the writers. He does that process until he approves the story for print, that could be one read, that could be seven reads, but it's usually around two or three. When it was a class that was part of his workload as a teacher, but if it goes to an after school activity then he would have to add the newspaper stuff onto his normal teaching load. It would be a lot. "On an annualized basis, 7,500 hours over 40 weeks translates into 9,750 hours per year, or roughly the efforts of 4.75 full-time employees. I would suggest that if students are spending 90 minutes each day on this endeavor, it's probably safe to say that the efficiency of production of the paper is seriously compromised. Someone should be looking at options that will enable a paper of similar quality to be produced with fewer students/less effort as an after-school activity, especially if the paper is self-sufficient." This is very ridiculous, you didn't factor in one major component...this is a learning environment. The goal of newspaper, above everything else, is to educate. So we don't spend 90 minutes everyday working solely on producing a paper. We learn about journalism, we are taught how to write stories, we speak one-on-one with Mr. Hill about how to improve stories, we talk with editors about what we can improve, we work with each other to produce pages, and because we aren't professionals, there's a learning curve, and that learning curve makes producing a publication like The Golden Sting a month long endeavor. Not everyone knows their way around InDesign like the page designers of the New York Times, people have to learn as they go. So your math problem there might show you how many man hours are put in, but that's completely irrelevant because it doesn't factor in the learning curve or the education that is taking place. Also, an after school activity would draw maybe, maybe 10 people. If a class could only draw 21, the after school will draw a lot less, and the difference between 10 and 21 is huge when it comes to producing the paper. When I said earlier we ran 20 stories I was mistaken, I forgot the paper is 16 pages, so really it's about 35 stories, well there are 21 kids in the class, and we were each assigned at least two stories, so we had about 7 stories that didn't get in, which gave buffer room in case a story didn't get finished. Well if you wanted to produce the same size publication with 10 students, that would be three stories plus for each student, which as a student writer (again factor in the education here) is very difficult. You have no idea how that paper is run and the integrity and determination that Mr. Hill has to keep it alive, so please don't make a fool of yourself by attempting to claim that the death of the paper isn't the fault of the school but rather the fault of the lazy and undetermined advisor, because that is simply insulting and completely false.
YpsiLivin
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 1:34 p.m.
@Jacob Bodnar, If self-sufficiency isn't the problem, then according to what you've said, it takes about 7,500 person-hours per year to put a "high quality paper" together (25 students * 90 minutes each day * 5 days * 40 weeks). With 21 students (and yes, SonnyDog09, the correct description is "minimum enrollment" rather than "cap"), the class would only be devoting 6300 hours each year to the paper, a reduction in staff effort of 16%. If as you imply, the quality of the paper is based on the amount of hours put into it, with only 21 students, the quality of the paper would still suffer. On an annualized basis, 7,500 hours over 40 weeks translates into 9,750 hours per year, or roughly the efforts of 4.75 full-time employees. I would suggest that if students are spending 90 minutes each day on this endeavor, it's probably safe to say that the efficiency of production of the paper is seriously compromised. Someone should be looking at options that will enable a paper of similar quality to be produced with fewer students/less effort as an after-school activity, especially if the paper is self-sufficient. WIth regard to participation in after-school activities - yes, people have to make choices about how they spend their time. Welcome to life.
Jacob Bodnar
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 1:01 p.m.
@ Jimmy Olsen "So how about AnnArbor.com, the Saline Reporter, the Michigan Daily, the Ann Arbor Chronicle and even the Detroit News/Free Press ante up some ca$h and sponsor the Golden Sting?" That would be a great idea, but the problem with The Golden Sting is not production funding, it's having a set time during school hours to work on the paper. The paper funds itself, production and everything. The school has simply taken away the time during the school day, the classroom during the school day, and the advisor during the school day. If the interest and time was there it could start as an after school activity right now and be fine.
Jimmy Olsen
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 11:50 a.m.
So how about AnnArbor.com, the Saline Reporter, the Michigan Daily, the Ann Arbor Chronicle and even the Detroit News/Free Press ante up some ca$h and sponsor the Golden Sting? I think it could be a win-win all around. The professional "journalists" could aid the students and the students could also teach them a thing or two. Maybe go on-line and not print? This is the new business model.
SonnyDog09
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 11:05 a.m.
I am confused by this from the article: "Earlier this year, administrators set a cap of 25 students for classes at the high school. But by the end of class registration, only 21 students had signed up for the Golden Sting. " A "cap" would be an upper limit for the number of students permitted in the class. The last time that I checked, 21 was less than 25. What is the article trying to say? if the article is trying to say that "25 students had to sign up for the program to continue", then it should have said that.
Mick52
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 10:17 a.m.
We must applaud Mike Hill for exemplary instruction. It appears however that teaching in high school is taking on aspects of college sport recruiting. By a certain deadline, teachers who want to continue a successful class now have to recruit. Maybe send massive mailings, home visits, use "friends of the program," alumni, etc in order to fill a class so an excellent program can continue. Its too bad that this class may be cancelled for not filling four seats.
wolverinefan
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 9:52 a.m.
YpsiLivin is mistakenly under the impression that the Saline High School newspaper is being cut because it costs more money than other classes. This is simply not true. The Golden Sting is completely self-sufficient. Through advertisement sales and fundraisers, the class pays for computer and photography equipment, the printing of all issues, and other supplies. By the way, of the 32 individual awards, senior Sarah Paterson, who is named in this story, won first place in the Feature Column category. The award is given out to the State's best high school columnist. Congrats to Sarah and the rest of The Golden Sting staff!
Jacob Bodnar
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 9:43 a.m.
@YipsiLivin I'm sorry, but you have no idea what you're talking about. I was on staff at The Golden Sting for two years and for starters the advisor, Mr. Hill, would never sell the interests and effort levels of the students short. Second of all the issue here is not about money to produce the paper, I think it's more about freeing up a block of time and a room and a teacher to put towards another class. The Golden Sting is entirely self funded, we sell advertisements, there's at least one ad usually on every page, with the exception of the front page, and we put on a Mock Rock yearly that usually drew 1,000 people at about $7 a head. We funded the printing ourselves, the school didn't give us any money for production, just the classroom and the advisor. "I think the adviser is selling the interest and effort levels of the students short by saying that there would be no time to put together the paper and diminished interest. Sure, you might not have the resources of 25 students - 20 of whom aren't interested in anything but the class credit - but for the five who are interested, their motivation to succeed may be all that's really needed to allow the paper to thrive. So there's no money. You can either generate what you need to keep doing what you're doing; modify what you're doing to fit the resources you can generate or walk away from the venture and look for someone to blame." If the paper was run as a club, it would be very, very difficult to get enough interested students to do something after school, Saline has very high athletic participation, so you would basically athletes need not apply. Plus it's not easy putting together an eight page paper every month, our class met everyday for an hour and a half and we still had crunch times when we were getting stuff produced. That's because we were a high quality paper (hence the awards) and we didn't just throw the issue together. The motivation of five people will not keep The Golden Sting afloat, I'd love to skip through the meadows of la la land with you and suck on lollipops and gummy bears, but that's not going to happen. It's an eight page paper, that usually has at least 20 stories in it, there's just no way five people could do it, and maintain the quality and caliber of the publication. The issue here is not money for printing, it's about a room, and a hour of school, and an advisor. They could continue it as a club, they would have the money, but the interest would be gone. And I will say it's not 20 out of 25 people that take that class for credit, there's no reason to take it for credit. There are a few that take because they think it's easy, but the majority are seriously interested in producing a quality publication every month.
YpsiLivin
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 9:16 a.m.
Duane Collicott said: "This is a perfect opportunity to train future entrepreneurs along with the future journalists." You have a point; the future of print journalism is so bright... Actually, I'm surprised that the paper is befuddled about how to survive without the handouts they've become accustomed to. Other papers survive (or don't) by selling display and classified advertising space, and subscriptions. My high school yearbook and newspaper sold ad space to defray the cost of production and that was.... well... a long time ago. Not to mention that the paper was indeed an extra curricular activity; we had many students, who were often involved in other after-school activities, working on it. And aside from producing the content, we had to go to the printer to do our own paste-ups and keylining. (Who even knows what that is anymore?) I think the adviser is selling the interest and effort levels of the students short by saying that there would be no time to put together the paper and diminished interest. Sure, you might not have the resources of 25 students - 20 of whom aren't interested in anything but the class credit - but for the five who are interested, their motivation to succeed may be all that's really needed to allow the paper to thrive. So there's no money. You can either generate what you need to keep doing what you're doing; modify what you're doing to fit the resources you can generate or walk away from the venture and look for someone to blame.
dclarkharris
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 9:03 a.m.
Perhaps it could be reclassified as a sport. That would probably save it. Students with nonathletic interests often seem to get the short end of things.
ruminator
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 8:59 a.m.
How sad that the district can't find the money to continue this academic endeavor. Isn't it interesting that nearly 1 million dollars of general fund money is spent to support the non-academic athletic department? Reading, writing and arithmetic have been replaced by athletics, politics and nonsense. Are these the life skills our students need to succeed today?
lumberg48108
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 8:27 a.m.
its easy to pass blame to the taxpayers, but Saline residents are already bled dry by taxes. People leave Saline these days cause the taxes are lower elsewhere... perhaps the average taxpayer just does not want to pay more as they struggle to make ends meet!
Duane Collicott
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 8:24 a.m.
This is a perfect opportunity to train future entrepreneurs along with the future journalists. Find a way to keep the paper going independent of school funding.
salinehornet
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 6:55 a.m.
Actually, the blame for this needs to be placed with the community, as they rejected a millage that would have provided funding for our schools. No amount of money from any union could repair this funding crisis.
InsideTheHall
Wed, May 5, 2010 : 5:50 a.m.
Pin this on the SEA. Yet another example of the student experience being diminished while the "fat cat" union refuses to provide meaningful concessions. 2012 is not far away and the community will remember when the next contract is negotiated.