The Journal Sentinel approvingly reports the formation of a "grassroots" parents organization to oppose TABOR, local property tax freezes, or any other legislative caps on local educational spending. The featured "concerned parent" is one Meredith Scrivner, who is identified as both a parent and the founder of something called Advocates for Education . The JS also notes that Mrs. Scrivner successfully led the fight a few years ago to keep accountability out of Wisconsin public schools, by defeating the introduction of mandatory achievement testing for Wisconsin students. Mrs. Scrivner's earlier arguments for opposing achievement testing are on display here.
Indeed, a simple Google search shows that Meredith Scrivner is far more than a concerned parent- she is the Greg Packer of Journal Sentinel education coverage. Thus, since the Journal Sentinel seems to know the Scrivners so well, it appears the newspaper is guilty of flagrant journalistic malpractice in forgetting to note that Mrs. Scrivners' husband, Thomas Scrivner, is a member of the Whitefish Bay School Board. Although Mr. Scrivner's day job is as an employment law specialist at Michael, Best & Friedrich, surely JS readers would be interested in knowing that Mrs. Scrivner is campaigning against legislation which would directly curtail the authority of Mr. Scrivner in his capacity as a sitting member of the Whitefish Bay School Board.
Not that it is important for newspapers to provide context, background reporting, or disclosure of potential conflicts of interest when offering a story to the general public.
