Good on you

Every once in a while, reasonable people have to tip their hats to the alternative press, particularly when they do something of note. Not to state the obvious, but the newsprint alternative to us in Reno, Nev., is the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Well, RG-J, good job on the March 24 package “13 schools that need our help.” Good reporting. Helpful to the community. Speaks directly to the Spanish-language people who need to read it. Good work.

As a news source that has published occasional pieces in Spanish, we know the kind of shit you’re going to get for this. All manner of morons will come out of the woodwork to express their ignorance. Editors and business types over there can be certain that most of the commentary will come from people who haven’t picked up a Reno Gazette-Journal for a long time. In fact, the only reason they’re reading it right now, if indeed they read it before they called, is because of your Spanish-language coverage. In other words, they picked it up because people are talking about it in the real world.

However, as another news source that depends on freedom of speech and the First Amendment, we say language—and that includes Spanish—is the most fundamental aspect of speech. English-only is about as unconstitutional a concept as the right-wingers have come up with.

The Gazette’s package seemed to hit on all cylinders. According to the introductory note by publisher John Maher: “As we prepared this special report, the challenges faced by students and parents who do not speak English emerged as a critical factor in the Washoe County School District’s ability to improve teaching outcomes evenly across the district. Because 24 percent of the school’s elementary students are English-language learners, we have taken the extra step of publishing today’s report in both English and Spanish so that this information can be of the greatest utility to families in our community.”

We get that. We also that note in the print edition, there were strip advertisements running along the bottom of the pages with Spanish-language content, but none on the English pages. It doesn’t take los científicos de cohetes to find a message in that.

Many people like to categorize other people in divisive ways: Rich vs. poor, English vs. Spanish, Republican vs. Democrat. But one thing this report clearly illustrates is that Washoe County School District students’ success or failure of rises and falls based on the success of all students. In those 13 “failing” schools, only 24 percent of those students are Spanish-language students, but all the schools are underperforming.

This is the reality, folks, and the RG-J’s package illustrates one thing better than all others: There is only one community in our part of Northern Nevada, and we all live in it. We all care about our kids, and we all want success for all of them. Uno mas tiempo: Todos nos preocupamos por nuestros hijos, y todos queremos el éxito para todos.

Full disclosure: This editorial was written by D. Brian Burghart. His girlfriend, Kelly Scott, works at the RG-J and had some input in the RG-J’s package.