Monday, March 20, 2006, Claudette Riley wrote the school story.  Previous Tennessean articles on Mondays, were little more than copies of Metro Schools' press releases.  This time, Riley approached the subject with a question.  Have Metro school officials "cried wolf"?  She invited the reader to visit the Tennessean's web site to see previous dire predictions.  She pointed out the factual material showing how the earlier estimations were wildly off target.  Then she returned to the tried and true methods of "dueling quotes."

Her story was a step in the right direction.  It showed an independence of thought that has been sorely lacking in the daily newspaper's coverage for a long time.  While plenty of rationale was given for the different numbers from what was "projected" in November, she did not nail the school people on the wrong approach in the first place.  The entire frenzy that the city was put through in the fall, about closing schools, and other "chicken little" alarms was a show.  Everyone who understands the budget-making process knows that real beginnings are not done until the projected revenue is stated by the Finance Department.  Even after that, the budget is fine tuned several times before April. 

What the school people will have to wonder is what happens when trust is lost?  What happens when the Metro Council and the Mayor are thoroughly antagonized?  Can Garcia's blackmail of threatening needless layoffs force the council to give more money for central office pet projects?   At least with actual news stories in the media, the public has a chance to make sensible input.