COLUMN: Silence isn't always golden when dealing with school board

For those who’ve ever wondered why stories connected with Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) entities are few and far between, here’s part of the tale.

A while back, I’d been trying to get a response from the public board for a story I planned to delve into. The Catholic board responded to the same request within a day.

But after many days of tumbleweeds blowing across the highway of my keyboard, I decided to email SCDSB board chair Jodi Lloyd and director of education John Dance about the lack of any kind of response. Even a ‘no comment’ or ‘we’re never talking to you again’ would have been better than silence.

I told them I wasn’t getting any help from the board’s well-staffed communications department or the local high school in pursuing a couple of stories.

I went on to tell them that “this reflects poorly on the board since we are an important tool to get stories about local schools into the community. In fact, our Inspire stories are dedicated to telling the stories of students making a difference in our communities.”

Well, this actually did elicit some action, just nothing that would lead to any sort of story — a column, maybe, but a story, no.

Dance decided to call me to discuss the aforementioned email.

We had a long conversation about the email I sent both he and Lloyd. And it wasn’t to thank me for making them aware of the situation. They already knew.

Dance told me I could interpret the silence as a way of the board saying “no comment” or that they’re not interested in being involved in a story.

I explained that, to at least be polite, they should respond in some form and then went on to discuss the opportunities the communities we serve have lost by not being able to read about the positive contributions of their students and staff.

(As journalists, we get used to being disliked. But even those who hold us in very low regard will still often respond since they understand the important balancing act of managing dislike with getting public attention. But, I digress.)

Asked why I sent it to him and Lloyd since the “relationship” is normally between the media and the public relations department, I told him, “Well, I’m not getting any kind of response.”

To this, Dance responded with a somewhat philosophical question.

“I’m asking a reflective question, then: Why do you think you’re not getting an answer?”

In January, MidlandToday posted a story titled ‘GBDSS nixes musical after cast member allegedly hurls racial slur,’ which seems to have been a major factor in the frosty relationship between the board and this news site.

In our conversation, Dance referred to a story last year “that caused all kinds of issues” and noted he thought there had been some sort of followup between MidlandToday and the board’s communications department.

The only thing is that if there was some kind of followup, it wasn’t with me and I’m the one who wrote the story and am the editor of the site where it first appeared.

Dance then provided some insight into how the board handles media inquiries.

“When stories come in and they come through the central area where they’re supposed to, then we discuss how we’re going to respond and if we’re going to respond,” he said.

“If the schools are not responding in the way that you think they should, you should probably take a look at your team or you go out and build that relationship with them.”

Dance also said media organizations will come with an information request and then want a response shortly thereafter, adding that deadlines can be a challenge.

“If there’s going to be a positive relationship, the positive relationship has to start with doing good stories. We appreciate good stories, but we also appreciate fairness and that’s not something we’ve seen in some cases.”

As for the high school, Dance noted that Georgian Bay District Secondary School does a great deal of public relations through its social-media channels.

“It’s not a question of us needing you. It’s nice to have it, but it’s not something that people are going to volunteer for if they feel they’ve been burnt by things before.

“In order for there to be a relationship, it has to be a two-way street.”

In response, I told Dance that I thought it had been a two-way street, pointing out that aside from this one story, MidlandToday has covered a lot of positive stories since its formation five years ago, including coverage of sporting events, previous plays, student profiles and interesting things happening in schools.

“I think the board has completely taken out of context this one story that it didn’t like and the school didn’t like and saying, ‘We’re closing the door,’” I told him. “We’ve given GBDSS good press, so to kind of throw out everything with this one story doesn’t seem right to me.”

But Dance noted that “there needs to be a rebuilding of trust between both sides.”

MidlandToday had also inquired about whether there should be more school programs with perhaps police involvement due to drug issues in the community and the dangers posed by narcotics, such as fentanyl. Again, there was no response from the board.

Dance called getting into this kind of discussion a “harmful take” for the board.

“All of a sudden, a societal problem becomes ‘schools are the problem,’” he said. “The place where things are going to get solved.

“We’re happy to have our stories told and sometimes they’re not great stories, but also don’t need to have some things conflated that don’t belong being conflated.”

Dance noted that schools have greater mental health resources than in the past, pointing out that “10 years ago, we didn’t have a social worker in the school system; now we have 40.

“We’re out there all the time with all our stories anyway,” he said. “And if you want to tell the stories, there has to be a better relationship (with) our communications department.”

Dance said he and Lloyd, who didn’t respond to the email, feel the same way toward the media.

“We talk about all the issues and if we have the opportunity to respond, we do,” he said. “If we don’t have a response, then that’s the way it’s going to be.

“We won’t respond if we think there’s going to be something untoward at the other end of it.”

Again, I noted that out of simple etiquette, the board should at least acknowledge receipt of an email.

To which he noted: “I would suggest, if there’s an opportunity, we take a look at a rebuilding of the relationship. I also know that might take some time.”

Andrew Philips is the editor of MidlandToday, a sister site of BarrieToday.