Jea.org

JEA’s semiannual report contains updates from staff, board members, committee chairs, state directors and liaisons.

Linda Puntney, MJE

Interim Executive Director

JEA Headquarters

105 Kedzie Hall

828 Mid-Campus Dr. S.

Manhattan, KS 66506-1500

C: 785-341-6257 | W: 785-532-7822

lindarp@ksu.edu

Membership: Voting membership stands at 2,529 up 110 (105 percent) from a comparable time last fall and 53 from Spring 2016. For the fifth consecutive half-year period, we are at the highest level of paid memberships in the organization’s history.

We have seen a double-digit decline in Alabama, Michigan and Oregon, which is more than offset by the double-digit increases in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. California is the largest membership state at 281 but is closely followed by Texas with 264 members. We now have members in every state.

Happenings:

April 14-17 – Los Angeles convention

July 11-14 – Advisers Institute, Las Vegas

July 31 – Executive Director leaves

Aug. 14 – Interim Executive Director on board

September– Audit

Sept. 10 — Dallas convention planning meeting (Goto meeting)

Sept. 16 – Indy convention planning meeting

Sept. 26-29 – Power outage in Kedzie

Oct. 20 – Advisers Institute site visit, Las Vegas

Additional info: The audit conducted in September by Reese and Novelly, P.A. shows the organization is on solid financial ground. For Fiscal Year 2016 we had total revenue of $951,197 and total expenses of $863,888, resulting in $107,762 excess revenue. Total unrestricted net assets at the end of the year were $1,679,302.

For the first four months of Fiscal Year 2017 we have $117,602.01 in total revenue plus $8,554.29 and total expenditures of $168,089.82, leaving the organization with a $54,839.78 shortfall for the year to date. This is not surprising and should not be a concern since we have not received any income for the Indianapolis convention.

Mark Newton, MJE

President

Mountain Vista High School

10585 Mountain Vista Ridge

Highlands Ranch, CO 80126

303-387-1500

themarknewton@gmail.com

As I head into the last months of my six-year presidency, it continues to be an honor to serve as JEA president. The respect I have for our executive director and headquarters staff only grows. Linda Puntney, our interim executive director, and the office staff — Connie Fulkerson, Pam Boller, Lisa Terhaar and Kate Dubiel — are the heart of our volunteer organization. I am so thankful for all they do for me, the board of directors and, most importantly, our members.

I am indebted to former Executive Director Kelly Furnas and his service to JEA. He was a remarkable leader and served our organization admirably. He made JEA better and left such a positive legacy. I could speak for hours on his tenure — and it would all be positive and appreciative. I am proud of what we accomplished together. I am even more proud to call him my friend. Thank you, Kelly!

Please take a few moments to review the notes from our Los Angeles meeting last April and the subsequent motions and results.

The day-to-day tasks continue to keep me busy. The highlights of my last seven months since my last report include:

The bulk of my time the last five months has been working with Dr. Birgit Wassmuth, director of the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kansas State University, and other KSU officials to find and hire an interim executive director. (Remember, JEA does not hire its executive director, KSU does.)

Visited headquarters to meet with Kelly and the headquarters staff prior to his departure to assist and guide the transition.

Met with Birgit to recommend she appoint Linda as the interim executive director. I also worked to establish a job description, job announcement, timeline and committee for the national search for a permanent executive director for systems-wide KSU approval.

Met with Dr. Amit Chakrabarti, the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, to discuss JEA, its contractual relationship with KSU, the appointment of the interim executive director and the national search for the permanent executive director.

Aided staff in the transition from Kelly’s official departure date until Linda was officially appointed as JEA interim executive director/JMC instructor.

Worked with Linda to get her updated on the current state of JEA, its (new to her) policies and procedures, as well as its programming and partnerships.

This continues weekly.

Chair the KSU search committee for our next executive director.

Please note future communications on this subject. Our hope is to have KSU announce our next director prior to our spring convention in Seattle.

Attended the Excellence in Journalism 2016 conference in September, which included a meeting of leaders of other national and international journalism organizations. We shared management issues and strategies, identified areas to support each other and, most importantly, areas to collaborate. I worked to identify viable opportunities to enhance our standing and find even more relevant partnerships. Additionally, I promoted our national search for an executive director.

Supported and guided all JEA leaders.

Continue to spend a significant amount of time working on all kinds of JEA programs and initiatives, addressing challenges and working hard to accomplish everything that needs to be done. I continue to focus on outreach to professional and sister organizations, networking and trying to find viable partnerships that will enhance our mission, goals and support our members with valuable opportunities.

Please take a moment to review the agenda for our fall board of directors and general membership meetings in Indianapolis. After taking a look, please be sure to share your ideas, thoughts and opinions with me and/or other JEA leaders. We absolutely value your viewpoints.

I have said this in each of my reports as president and as always there is absolutely no reason to change even one word: Every conversation I have reminds me of how much our staff, board and members want what’s best for our organization. We may not agree 100 percent on the problems or the solutions, but we always do agree to come together for the good of the organization. So many people make JEA great — and I can’t thank you all enough.

I’m excited about our ideas and plans as we work together to move JEA forward in the remaining seven months of my presidency. We are not pausing. It is go, go, go! We have overcome significant challenges and accomplished remarkable feats in five-plus years. We have taken something outstanding and made it even more so. And, we have done it with honesty, transparency and responsibility. I am quite proud of this organization and its staff, leaders, volunteers and members. It truly is an honor to serve all of JEA. Thank you for the opportunity.

Sarah Nichols, MJE

Vice President

Whitney High School

701 Wildcat Blvd.

Rocklin, CA 95765

916-705-3684

sarahjnichols.sjn@gmail.com

The past six months have been busy and exciting ones for JEA — they always are! — and I continue to be humbled by the hard work and dedication of so many leaders. Thank you for the opportunity to serve on this team and collaborate with our headquarters staff, board members, committee chairs, state directors and countless volunteers working for the good of teachers and their students.

In the time since our last report, I have been involved in a variety of ways, which include:

Attending BPA’s National Leadership Conference in Boston, May 5-9, to judge the broadcast news package competitive events and present a session about JEA programming.

Appointing new state directors in Michigan, New Mexico and Washington, D.C. We are lucky to have C.E. Sikkenga, Nina Quintana and Clare Berke as the latest additions to our team.

Maintaining JEA’s social media presence on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Posting articles as a contributor to the JEA Digital Media site and JEA SPRC blog.

Attending Advisers Institute in Las Vegas, July 11-14, to present sessions and coordinate meetings.

Working with 10 curriculum leaders on the JEA Curriculum Initiative.

Teaching a summer adviser course at the Flint Hills Publications Workshop, July 17-19, to strengthen the partnership with Kansas State University and the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Following the workshop, I spent a day meeting with JEA staff to discuss projects underway at headquarters and to help with the transition in the executive director position.

Conducting a two-day training session at Lafayette High School in Oxford, Miss. for the JEA/NSPA Adviser Outreach program and hosting a free Saturday workshop (Sept. 3) for attendees from Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. The workshop provided on-site training to advisers and students as part of small professional learning communities designed to reach underserved areas.

Attending planning meetings in Dallas (Sept. 9) and Indianapolis (Sept. 16-17) to meet with hotel contacts, local representatives and NSPA partners for upcoming conventions.

Serving on the search committee with Kansas State University and JEA representatives to hire a permanent executive director.

Conducting a Request for Proposals for Advisers Institute 2018 and making site visits to Las Vegas hotel and convention properties.

Working with interim executive director Linda Puntney, MJE, to support her transition in this role and continue various JEA projects underway. I am grateful to Linda for her leadership and continued service to JEA — we are so lucky to have her on our team. While she knows so much about the organization already, she also asks great questions and empowers our board members. I also continue to appreciate and admire the leadership of former director Kelly Furnas, CJE, and am thankful his vision, work ethic and expertise helped put JEA in a great position.

Thank you for asking questions, making suggestions and dreaming big for JEA. We are stronger together, and I appreciate the ways we learn and grow from our collective efforts.

Candace Perkins Bowen, MJE

Past President/SPA Liaison/Nominations Chair

Kent State University

School of Journalism & Mass Communications

201B Franklin Hall Kent, OH 44242-0001

330-672-8297

cbowen@kent.edu

Thank you for this opportunity to give a thoughtful look at what contributions I have made recently to JEA. It’s been an interesting and challenging time for JEA with a new board and executive director on the horizon, but we are a team that works hard, and this will be a time to grow and improve.

Since April, I have worked to support JEA’s goals in the following ways:

Scored CJE and MJE tests from the Los Angeles convention, several regional sites and the Adviser Institute (spring and summer 2016).

Presented sessions at Advisers Institute in Las Vegas, including a session with John Bowen and Lori Keekley about the Press Rights Committee’s editorial policy package and a session titled “Grammar can be (almost) painless” (July 2016).

Finalized details about this winter’s JEA board election, wrote announcements about that for JEAHELP and the JEA e-newsletter, answered questions from potential candidates and collected names of those interested in running. These will be presented as the slate at the Friday member meeting in Indianapolis, where additional nominations can come from the floor. At this time, we have from one to three candidates for each office. Set up the shell for the separate discussion list that will be for election discussions and questions (summer/fall 2016).

Participated in the AEJMC convention of college journalism educators in Minneapolis, including a presentation about JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee’s editorial policy with John Bowen and Lori Keekley at the Teach-in for area high school advisers. I also was part of a panel about self-censorship in high school media (August 2016).

I wrote two resolutions, with input from Jonathan Rogers and President Mark Newton, for the NCTE convention, one supporting scholastic media in general and the other encouraging states and schools to work on passing student free speech legislation like the New Voices Acts that have passed in several states. These were submitted in October for the November NCTE convention (fall 2016).

Wrote blogs for the JEA Scholastic Press Rights site, including the newest, to be posted before the fall convention about Jose Antonio Vargas’ presentation at Kent State-Poynter Ethics Workshop, including links to the high school lesson plans I wrote to go with it. His speech is archived, too (October 2016).

Wrote a lesson plan for Free Speech Week (October 2016).

Maintained the SPA-L list for scholastic press association directors and others, sharing JEA news and information plus offering a platform for concerns and problems this group faces, such as electronic PDFs for judging, insurance needs for 501-c3 organizations and remote contests, just three of many topics these past six months. I was also able to spread JEA information from the vice president and others about National Journalism Quiz Bowl, mentoring in states without SPAs and other timely issues. Maintained the Scholastic Press Association Roundtable Facebook group to continue the conversations that begin at the two-hour convention roundtables.

Maintained the JEATALK Listserv I set up almost 20 years ago for JEA Board, directors and committee chairs.

This fall, I will continue to work actively as Nominations Committee chair to keep the election on track. I will be gathering candidates’ mug shots, bios and statements for the website and explaining the mechanism for a run-off for any position that has three or more candidates in the event no one gets a majority. I plan to run an election that will allow us to have the best leaders for JEA in the coming three years.

John Bowen, MJE

Director, Scholastic Press Rights

Kent State University

School of Journalism & Mass Communications

201 Franklin Hall

Kent, OH 44242-0001

330-672-3666

jabowen@kent.edu | jbowen1007@aol.com

Scholastic Press Rights Committee

Since the Los Angeles convention, SPRC members have completed major projects in the Constitution Day teaching materials and creation of a Legislation package usable by those with recently passed free expression bills or those working to pass such legislation. The materials and legislation package spearheaded nearly 3,000 hits in a week around Constitution Day.

Committee members also worked with those in states seeking to pass freedom of expression legislation and assisted students and teachers with First Amendment issues.

Director John Bowen, MJE

In addition to contributing to the above, I presented sessions at this summer’s Advisers Institute and at the AEJMC Teach-In and panel sessions in Minneapolis.

Long-range plans include creating teaching materials on use of public records, depth reporting and solutions journalism in a committee retreat in the winter of 2018. Short-range plans include developing a weekly “shopping list” of materials journalism teachers and advisers can use when they need quick advice, recommendations and resources.

Candace Bowen, MJE
I am again a contributor to the SPRC blog, posting an article in early October about the Jose Antonio Vargas keynote at the Poynter-Kent State Ethics Workshop in late September and linking to the video of his very moving talk about immigration and the lesson plans I wrote for that and for another panel on the Flint water crisis.

I contributed a lesson plan to the Free Speech Week content in October.

I co-presented sessions about the Foundations package with John Bowen and Lori Keekley at JEA/NSPA in Los Angeles and at JEA Advisers Institute in Las Vegas and another one producing content that is “More than Marshmallow Fluff.”

At the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Teach-in in Minneapolis, I co-presented a similar session on editorial polices and on “More than Marshmallow Fluff.” I also was on a panel there about self-censorship.

I authored the Fall Dow Jones Adviser Update law column titled (no surprise … ) “More than Marshmallow Fluff: Serious Reporting May Help Fight Censorship.”

Lori Keekley, John Bowen and I are reintroducing the Making a Difference campaign. This monthly posting will highlight students who have made a difference through their coverage. When your students create content that has a positive impact on your school or community, please fill out the submission form and we’ll tell you how to send your content. JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee will post one or more packages a month on its website and promote them on social media.

Phillip Caston
We’re in the early stages in South Carolina of pursuing our own New Voices legislation. We’re assembling people for a team and reaching out to former students, admins, lawyers and legislators. I have a lead on a Republican senator whose daughter took my yearbook course at my old school and faced censorship. Our state conference is Oct. 3 and we will be discussing it more then. I will keep everyone updated.

Mary Kay Downes, MJE
I have been concentrating on Fairfax County and Virginia.

At our yearbook camp at UVA, I shared with other advisers outside the county information about SPRC and SPLC.

I worked with five schools and promoted press rights.

I contacted the Adviser at George Mason H.S. – a top school embedded in Fairfax County that is having serious freedom of expression issues. He was going to have the EIC contact me.

I am trying to encourage other advisers from strong programs in the county to be brave and push the administrative envelop. I think several promote self-censorship as it is “easier.”

Mitch Eden, MJE
At summer camps I helped many staffs set up an editorial policy. At all Missouri camps, I addressed New Voices and our latest push. At AEJMC, I met with Frank LoMonte and Bob Berglund to develop our New Voices plan of action. I contacted MNEA and administrators groups about New Voices.

Megan Fromm, MJE
I taught a copyright law session in Los Angeles and also conducted mentor training for new mentors in Las Vegas at the Advisers Institute.

Lori Keekley, MJE
During the past few months I have presented on law and ethics, answered Panic Button requests and coordinated Constitution Day. Additionally, I helped judge the law and ethics Write-off contest at the Los Angeles convention. I worked with New Voices legislation in Minnesota and presented sessions at the Los Angeles convention.

Sarah Nichols, MJE
Since the last report, I have been involved with the following SPRC-related efforts:

teaching a law/ethics session for advisers at Flint Hills Publications Workshop

responding to Panic Button and individual requests for help

coordinating/collaborating on JEA responses for issues related to prior review

teaching First Amendment lessons at JEA/NSPA workshop in Mississippi

promoting Constitution Day and Free Speech Week materials via social media

posting Photojournalists and Free Speech on the SPRC site for Free Speech Week

Glenn Morehouse Olson, MJE
This school year is off to a crazy pace.

I’m doing three broadcast sessions this year at MHSPA. Frank Is our keynote speaker, so I won’t be doing my First Amendment session, but I will cover some of the issues broadcasters face.

I’ve given some contacts for the New Voices legislation here as well, but I will find out more where we are with that today at the convention.

I continue to teach media ethics in St. Francis and serve as support for area students who need guidance with free speech issues.

Kathy Schrier, MJE
I secured Senator Joe Fain as keynote speaker for Journalism Day at the University of Washington, Sept. 15. Sen. Fain is primary sponsor of the Washington New Voices legislation, SB6233. His keynote connected with the students, as he explained how his visit to a journalism classroom at Auburn High School a year and a half ago made him realize how important scholastic journalism is in promoting democratic principles in our schools. Following the keynote nearly a hundred students chose to stay behind to ask questions and to learn how they can be involved in helping this bill to become law in 2017.

In my role as executive director of WJEA, I use any opportunity to educate our membership on how a free and responsible scholastic press is something they must push for in their programs. Making them aware of the SPRC initiatives is part of that. Our summer workshop featured Lori Keekley, MJE, as Expert in Residence, who spoke to this message as well, as she inspired both advisers and students with her energy and passion for excellence in student media.

I’ve presented a session on the SPRC Panic Button twice to adviser groups since last spring’s JEA/NSPA convention.

Matthew Smith, CJE
In Wisconsin, we have met with a Democratic state legislator’s office and convinced them to draft New Voices legislation and find some co-sponsors across the aisle. They drafted some language based on the materials we gave them, and we provided some comments tweaking the draft along with help from Frank LoMonte. Mostly, we wanted to ensure that institutions of higher learning (not just high schools) were covered by the bill.

Although we are now waiting to see some revised wording, we are hopeful a draft will be polished and supported by additional sponsors when the next legislative sessions opens in January. We have also worked to get written statements of support from administrators and school board members from across the state and have been fairly successful at that. We want to ensure we can prove support from all stakeholders and weaken the possibility that the state school board association or other such group could try to lobby against the bill.

Through the Kettle Moraine Press Association, I have reached out to a student journalist (now a senior) who experienced speech restrictions throughout last year at Spooner High School in Wisconsin. She has a new adviser but still seems to be experiencing pressure to avoid particular stories. She will speak about her experiences during a panel discussion on student press rights that I will also join at KEMPA’s Fall Conference in October.

Randy Swikle, MJE
I have been collaborating with Dennis DeRossett, President & CEO of the Illinois Press Foundation (and the IPA), about a sequel to our 2010 conference at Cantigny in Wheaton that created Protocol for Free & Responsible Student News Media. My proposal is to have another conference that would contribute to a new book: Partnership for Free & Responsible Student News Media.

I am writing several articles regarding strategies for successfully implementing the new Illinois legislation. I will update you soon about those articles.

John Tagliareni
I have been very active in promoting our New Voices Legislation in New Jersey, which has now been introduced in both houses with bipartisan support. I have reported much of our progress to the commission, and I have included that information, as well as new developments, in this report.

New Jersey Senator Diane Allen (R) introduced the New Voices bill Aug. 1 with Senator Nia Gill (D) as the co-primary sponsor and Senator Jennifer Beck (R) as co-sponsor. We now have identical bills in both the State Senate (S-2506) and Assembly (A-4912).

The bill was first introduced in December of 2015 by former Assemblywoman Donna Simon (A4912). It was reintroduced in this legislative session June 30 by Assemblywoman Gail Phoebus (R) and Assemblyman Troy Singleton (D) (A4028).

This bill will re-establish the First Amendment rights of student journalists under the Tinker standard. The bill also protects journalism teachers and advisers, in public high schools and institutions of higher learning, from retribution for supporting their students.

The bill has received the endorsements of the Editorial Board of the Times of Trenton and the Gannett Newspapers. The bill has also received the support of the Society of Professional Journalists, the New Jersey Education Association’s Working Conditions Committee, and of course, JEA.

We are working closely with Frank LoMonte on a regular basis, and we had a conference call with him on Sept. 23. Tom McHale, Darrell Detample and I discussed strategy with him, and we are planning to testify before the respective education committees of each chamber. As always, we are fortunate to get Frank’s expert advice.

In addition to the fight for the legislation, I have supported the goals of the SPRC in other ways, and I will continue to do so.

I was a mentor for the Hugh N. Boyd Diversity Workshop at Rutgers University on July 29, and I helped the students with their various projects for publication. The GSSPA had supported this program with a grant, and I spent the day assisting a number of students with one-on-one coaching.

I will continue to speak at conferences to promote student press rights. I will again speak at the Garden State Scholastic Press Association Conference at Rutgers University Oct. 24, and the GSSPA Spring Conference in May 2017. I will speak at the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Fall Conference on Nov. 7 and at the CSPA Spring Convention in New York in March 2017.  I will also attend the Kent State Symposium Nov. 18 to discuss New Voices legislation.

I helped to initiate a student affiliate organization of the GSSPA two years ago, and I am working with the students to help them to prepare for sessions at our next conference. I have been very involved in making sure the group is growing. We have new officers this year who are very motivated and have experience from last year.

The members have become very active, and they are supporting the legislation. They are conducting a writing campaign to our sponsors and urging other legislators to support the bills as well.

They are working on another video, as the group did last year, and we will post their videos on the GSSPA website and forward them when they are completed.

We have invited our sponsors to our conference, and we are anticipating that a few will attend. We know this will be a great opportunity for them to see the importance of scholastic journalism first hand. They will get to meet the students, advisers and many professionals who will attend.

We always have a strong turnout from schools all over New Jersey. In recent years, we have had approximately 800 students and 75 advisers attending our conference. Many professional journalists are on the program, as well as representatives of various organizations. Last year 35 speakers presented a total of 48 sessions.

I have helped advisers and students, both in New Jersey and nationally, via email and phone conversations, to help them with censorship issues and to give any other advice as needed.

I have given a number of interviews to professional journalists, as well as students, to promote press rights protections for students and advisers.

I will continue to work with the commission to help advance its initiatives, as much as I can.

Audrey Wagstaff, MJE
As far as scholarship, I conducted an adviser self-censorship study last spring and presented the findings at AEJMC. I will also present these findings at JEA and likely at OSMA next spring. Some of the results have been submitted to C:JET for consideration as well, and I hope to write another article for JMC Educator (AEJMC journal).

I also continue to present sessions for students at OSMA and JEA conventions on censorship and how to combat it.

For service, I’m on the OSMA board as well as this board. I’m also working a bit with our own legislative efforts here in Ohio. I should note that I set up to have Wilmington host the regional OSMA conference, but we did not get it off the ground quickly enough to generate enough interest. Next year!

Teaching-wise, I’m doing a lot more research methods and media psychology stuff, but I try to inject my research interests in scholastic journalism and student free expression wherever possible.

Stan Zoller, MJE
Most of my activity related to scholastic press rights centered on Illinois House bill 5902. I was fortunate enough to work closely with JEA Illinois State Director Benda Field, MJE, yearbook adviser at Glenbrook South High School in this effort.

The bill passed both the Illinois House and Senate, hugely because of the dogged efforts and exceptional advice of Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center.

The bill was passed May 27 and cleared its last hurdle May 31 when it was sent to Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, who signed it on July 29.

Efforts since then have focused on disseminating information to Illinois journalism educators.  Additionally, the Illinois Journalism Education Association has discussed ways to communicate the bill (now Public Act 99-0678) to the state’s public school administrators.

In addition to work on the bill, I continue to be a regular contributor to the SPRC’s blog.

I also participated in a panel on state legislation at spring convention in Los Angeles. Brenda and I presented a session on the law at the IJEA’s Fall Conference at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in September.

I will be a participant in the State Legislation Protecting Student Press Freedom: New Voices on the Move symposium Nov. 18, 2016 at Kent State University.

Megan Fromm, CJE
Director, Educational Initiatives
Colorado Mesa University

Mass Communication

1100 North Ave.

Grand Junction, CO 81501

970-640-0609

megfromm@gmail.com | mfromm@coloradomesa.edu

I’m proud to continue working with JEA leaders as we transition to new leadership. Since our last report, here’s what I’ve been working on:

I attended the Advisers Institute in July to team-teach two data journalism sessions with Sarah Nichols, MJE. I also worked with the mentor team to train incoming mentors on common copyright and First Amendment law issues.

I’ve been working on putting into place a policy and procedure for JEA and NSPA to start soliciting grants for journalism education research. In the last budget cycle, JEA approved grant money to support those who are researching journalism education and student press rights, and we are close to putting that grant opportunity in motion.

I’ve spent most of the summer and fall preparing for our transition to new leadership. We have an excellent interim director, Linda, and I’ve been working closely with the other board members to move forward with our timeline and process for a full national executive director search.

To help with Linda’s new duties, I’ve taken over the e-newsletter for the foreseeable future.

Finally, I’ve been serving as the news gathering curriculum leader and am writing lessons on data journalism to include in that unit.

Carrie Faust, MJE

Director-at-large

Smoky Hill High School

16100 E. Smoky Hill Road

Aurora, CO 80015

720-886-5469

faust.carrie@gmail.com

As I enter the last seven months of my term on the Journalism Education Association board, I can’t help but feel blessed to have spent the last six years serving the members of of this amazing organization. In my opinion, the passion and dedication of our advisers and friends of journalism is unrivaled in the world of education.

Please consider running for a position on the JEA board. This organization relies on the enthusiasm and expertise of its members to propel it into a successful future. I can guarantee you will receive back tenfold what you put into it.

Stan Zoller, MJE

Director-at-large

1448 Camden Court

Buffalo Grove, IL 60089

847-421-5278

sezoller@gmail.com

Since my spring report, my efforts have centered on the following:

• Diversity Committee and related initiatives: These include a successful Diversity Committee meeting at the spring convention in Los Angeles that featured students and advisers interested in multicultural concerns in scholastic journalism.

In addition to that, I, along with Adriana Chavira, attended the joint National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference in Washington, D.C.  While we made substantial contacts that will hopefully foster partnerships with JEA, we were also invited to participate in NABJ’s “J Shop,” a weeklong program for African-American high school journalists.

I attended the SPJ’s national conference independent of JEA, but I was able to make contact with representatives of the Native American Journalists Association and UNITY. Like NABJ and NAHJ, they are interested in working with JEA on its diversity initiative.

• Outreach Academy: With Kelly Furnas leaving the organization, I was asked to take on the role of Outreach Academy Coordinator. The Academy will once again be led by Anthony Whitten, Scholastic Journalism Outreach Coordinator at University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. The program will take place from 8:30 to 4:30 Nov. 10. Enrollment for the Indianapolis Academy is low, but there appears to be a lot of interest for the Seattle Academy.

• Press rights efforts: As a member of the Scholastic Press Rights Commission I submit blogs for the SPRC’s site and have worked closely with the SPRC and the SPLC on state legislation, most notably in Illinois where the bill was signed into law in July. There are now 10 New Voices states.

Casey Nichols, CJE

Awards Committee Chair

2215 Solitude Way

Rocklin, CA 95765

916-792-6699

caseyenichols@gmail.com

As we head into the third year of a major shift in awards towards digital submission we are preparing for conventions in Indianapolis and Seattle. The JEA Awards Committee continues to define awards and streamline our submission and voting processes. Again I feel fortunate to have the support of the headquarters staff, board members and many bright, talented, experienced members who serve on one of several committees.

Since the last report, the following has taken place:

We completed a second revision of the Broadcast and Yearbook Adviser of the Year applications by Sept. 15 with an Oct. 15 deadline for submission. The goal continues to be to align the questions with the scoring guide and to streamline the process both for the applicants and judges. The applications will be scored between Oct. 17 and Nov. 8 and results compiled in Indianapolis.

In keeping with our sponsorship for Broadcast Adviser of the Year by Ithaca College, Peter Johanns, who serves as the Program Director for the Television-Radio degree in the Roy H. Park School of Communications, has joined the team for scoring applications. He has both academic and professional experience. He joins last year’s recipient Michelle Turner in the broadcast category. Chairperson Casey Nichols, Sherri Taylor of Syracuse University and former Carl Towley recipient Mark Murray will rate both adviser categories. Kathy Craghead, a former Yearbook Adviser of the Year, and last year’s recipient Renee Burke also will rank yearbook candidates.

We again announced the fall awards in a timed series (10 a.m. Central) in the last week of August. Again the chair called all recipients and in some categories the nominator a day ahead of the formal announcement of awards. Connie Fulkerson of headquarters continued to coordinate luncheon attendance.

We continue to work on refining definitions of awards on the web. Sparked by the nomination and eventual awarding of the Carl Towley Award to the late Nick Ferentinos, the committee has currently defined awards other than Lifetime Achievement as going to those living at the time of the nomination. This must be made in the 12 months preceding the respective deadline. Further questions raised regarding posthumous awards will be discussed in Indianapolis.

The board approved and the chair and committee are working on two awards changes. The board has funded travel as well as a participation grant for the Administrator of the Year. The board also budgeted $5,000 for a Future Administrator Scholarship that will be open on the Dec. 15 deadline.

Awards Committee members: Martha Akers, Ellen Austin, Sara-Beth Badalamente, Brian Baron, Linda Barrington, Jane Blystone, Linda Drake, Charla Harris, Monica Hill, Kathy Schrier, Cindy Todd, Ann Visser, Karen (Wagner) Slusher, Carmen Wendt, Mitch Ziegler.

Subcommittee chairs: Candace Perkins Bowen, Future Teacher Scholarship; John Bowen, First Amendment Press Freedom Award; Rebecca Pollard, Journalist of the Year; Kenson Siver, Student Journalist Impact Award.

Kim Green, MJE

Certification Committee Chair

9081 W. Country Road 100 S.

Greensburg, IN 47240-9013

W: 812-376-4260 | C: 812-525-8502

kgreenmje@gmail.com

The Certification Committee has been busy since the spring report!

We tested 34 CJE applicants at five sites and six MJE candidates at two sites this summer. All exams have been evaluated and verified. Special thanks to Jane Blystone, Cathy Wall and Liz Walsh, who proctored exams that I couldn’t get to this summer.

We have processed 124 applications since Los Angeles for this summer, for the Illinois Journalism Education Association Fall Conference in September, for the national convention in Indianapolis in November, for KEMPA this winter, for Seattle in April 2017, and for Dallas in November 2017. We expect one or two more sites to sign on yet this fall.

The Certification page at jea.org has been updated to include a test site calendar and updated FAQs.

We are planning a retreat in late April/early May to work on our current digital CJE exams and MJE exams, to update the instructional slideshows we use at national conventions and have posted to our page to align with JEA Curriculum, and to examine ways we can better serve our members through certification.

As of Sept. 7, 651 of our members are Certified Journalism Educators, and 171 are Master Journalism Educators.

While we are constantly striving to maintain the rigor of our certification process, it is always nice to receive feedback from folks who lay it on the line for their professional development. As a committee, we discuss and act on suggestions for improvement, and we love to get positive comments, too.

Committee member Jane Blystone, who has agreed to be our go-to proctor for off-convention sites, shared this comment from a CJE test-taker:

“As a professional journalist as well as an educator, I can say, having taken it, that it’s an excellent, comprehensive exam. I frankly know many fellow professionals who would have trouble passing it. Hope to pursue my MJE in a year or two!”

In May, Brenda Field, MJE, who will present her project as part of the MJE Project Panel session in Indianapolis in November, wrote to a member asking about certification on the JEAHELP Listserv:

… I’m excited you’re thinking about certification!

I recently earned MJE certification; it was honestly one of the most helpful professional development projects I’ve undertaken.

I waited longer than I should have. It seemed too daunting, so I kept putting it off. I became a CJE a few years after I started teaching, but I didn’t become an MJE until close to year 20. If I had it to do over again, I certainly would have done it sooner. I shouldn’t have been so nervous about it.

Preparing for the exam forced me to think more concretely about what I’ve come to understand about good practice, and it challenged me to brush up on aspects of journalism I don’t teach as often. Especially at this stage of my career, it was good to be reminded that there’s still a lot I’d like to learn and improve.

I think the idea of a project intimidated me the most. In the end, I discovered I was able to use something I had already been working on for a regional press association. Using something like this for my MJE project vastly improved the outcome. The feedback I received from the Certification Committee, and especially from Kim Green, helped it become a much more useful tool than it would have been otherwise.

The process itself helped to remind me why I love teaching journalism. I encourage anyone thinking about earning an MJE to go for it. You won’t regret the process …

I am blessed to work with an amazing committee of JEA rock stars: Jane Blystone, Candace Bowen, Brian Hayes, Joe Humphrey, Dr. Joe Mirando, Rod Satterthwaite, Cathy Wall and Liz Walsh! I LOVE these people!

More important, I get to see the faces of JEA – the journalism educators who earnestly want to learn more and to teach better through certification. They humble me and make me oh, so glad I get to do what I do!

Nancy Y. Smith, MJE

Contests Committee Chair

Lafayette High School

17050 Clayton Road

Wildwood, MO 63011

W: 636-733-4118 | C: 314-704-1242

nysmithjea@gmail.com

The Contest Committee has been hard at work since the Los Angeles convention. Here are a few of the major highlights of our work:

Personnel changes: Kris Doran will be stepping down as Broadcast Contest Coordinator after Indianapolis. He will be replaced by Erika Quick from Cody High School. In addition, Joel Garver from Junction City High School and will be joining us this fall as the Asst. Broadcast Chair.

National Journalism Quiz Bowl (April Van Buren, coordinator): The online qualifying test made its debut this fall. Teams will now have to take that test and qualify before moving on to the placement exam at the convention. The Top 16 teams will then compete in the live buzzer round. Any teams who qualified to compete from the September online exam may also register for the Seattle event. In addition, another qualifier will be available online Jan. 16-20, 2017.

Jr. High/Middle School Contest (Allie Staub & Laura Zhu, coordinators): There were 240 entries in Spring 2015 and 400 entries in Spring 2016. This year’s contest timeline is as follows:

Registration opens March 15

Materials due (third Wednesday in April @ 7 p.m. Eastern) April 19

Judging finished May 5

Winners announced May 8-12

Write-off material and curriculum development: I spent some time gathering Write-off prompts from the past several years and getting them packaged to be added to the JEA Curriculum site. Our goal is to get things posted by Jan. 1, 2017. There will be some contests that will not be available because they involve live speakers. In addition, the art provided for the graphic design contests will not be available due to our usage agreement. Beginning with Indianapolis, the Write-off team will also make copies of the Superior winners in all categories to have as exemplars for JEA members.

Write-off critique sheets: There is a need to revise the critique sheets/contest standards to mirror the curriculum documents. We have one MJE candidate working on these, but it would be a great project for some other people looking for MJE projects in the future.

Summer meeting notes: Over the weekend of July 22-24, Kelly Furnas, Mark Murray, Nancy Smith and Bradley Wilson met to collaborate and make revisions to the various JEA contests and also work with web developer Kate Dubiel on the technology end of the contests and membership.

The JEA staff has made many improvements/updates to the membership database and the migration to the new Write-off system. Please note the new website for registration: writeoffs.jea.org. We went through each page to determine what changes, upgrades are needed and then prioritized the work into three phases. Some of the work will be completed in-house and some will be done by an outside developer.

We brought in an advisory panel (Brad Lewis, St. Teresa’s Academy; Mary Pritchard, North Kansas City High School; Christina Geabhart, Oak Park High School) to go through the registration system and make suggestions about how to streamline the process and entry of student material. We also had an overall discussion about the contests themselves and got ideas for some revisions and updates to the contest offerings and some suggestions for judging and critiques.

Contest updates: The committee made some changes to the photography contests and removed the newspaper/yearbook distinctions from categories. The revised contests include:

28:      Sports Action Photography (online submission)
29:      Sports Feature Photography (online submission)
30:      Feature Photography (online submission)
31:      General or Spot News Photography (online submission)

Broadcast contest changes: We set up the writeoffs.jea.org system to accommodate the online submission broadcast contest judging starting with Indianapolis. We will have the judges complete critiques online and then utilize the same format as the photo contest currently use, where any entry with two thumbs up from judges will move on to final judging to Friday from 1-4 p.m. The students in those contests submitted ahead of the conference will attend critique sessions from 3-6 Friday. This means that only those students competing in on-site broadcast contests will miss sessions on Friday morning. We also moved several contests to later in the afternoon so they are competing the same time as the other Write-off students. We also closely looked at the time allotted for the on-site contests and tried to reduce that to get those competitors back into sessions.

Design judging: We established a goal to move design contest judging and graphic design contest judging to the Write-offs system by Fall 2017.

Future ideas: We also bounced around a few ideas for contest changes/upgrades and will look at those more during our Indianapolis wrap-up meeting.

Aaron Manfull, MJE

Digital Media Committee Chair

Francis Howell North High School

2549 Hackman Road

Saint Charles, MO 63303

w. 636-851-5107

aaronmanfull@gmail.com

t. @manfull

JEADigitalMedia.org has continued to grow and we have continually worked to reassess the most pressing needs of students and advisers. We have been tracking data so we can get a gauge of how we are doing with this. I will only touch on part of it here; please let me know if you’d like to have any other data, and I will make sure to get it to you.

I have decided to compare six-month periods of the site (from March 13-Sept. 13 and Sept. 14-March 12) each year that I do this. They are even six-month periods and will allow us to get an annual report together in time for each convention.

In our seven years of existence, we had 990 posts published (roughly three per week), 449,224 visits, and 819,861 pageviews. Including myself, there are more than 60 members of the committee who are on an email list. Eleven different people contributed posts to the site during the past six months (compared to 21 different people the previous six-month period). Six committee members are considered contributors for posting at least three times over the past six months or because they work with other parts of the site. They are:

Contributors:

Aaron Manfull – 28

Michelle Harmon – 9

Michelle Turner – 4

Jonathan Rogers – 3

Dennis Leizear – Emailing the Listserv numerous times

Kyle Phillips – Maintaining maps

Also contributing to the site during the time period were Michelle Balmeo, Dave Davis, Christina Geabhart, Michael Hernandez, Sarah Nichols, Chris Snider and John Wood.

While some of the wording is cut off on the following charts, the graphs move from the least recent six-month period on top to the most recent six-month period on the bottom:

Below are the most clicked posts/pages from the last 6 months:

We also have a presence on Twitter and Facebook (links below). With the efforts focused on creating posts and content for the site, those social accounts have not been as socially active as we would like.

We have been busy with a few things since Los Angeles.

Michelle Turner was named the 2016 National High School Broadcast Adviser of the Year. She was recognized in Los Angeles at the JEA/NSPA National Convention. Gil Garcia was named a Distinguished Adviser. The Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College is our BAOY sponsor. Aaron has been working on posts promoting BPA student contests, which started rolling out in October. The site underwent a theme change over summer.

As a reminder, Aaron Manfull worked to create an advertising structure for JEADigitalMedia.org. Information on advertising on the site can be found here. School Newspapers Online has purchased the main widget area for another year. We also have a rotating ad area within posts and pages where we will work to push to summer journalism workshops and other advertisers as well.

We will discuss our goals at our committee meeting in Indianapolis, but I have a feeling we will work to continue some of our current areas of focus:

Continue to build a deeper broadcast presence on the site, as it remains one of our biggest draws

Continue to post relevant articles for those wanting help with their online journey

Work to publicize the site more on the Listserv and other places.

As always, if there is anything anyone would like to see on the site, please email us at info@jeadigitalmedia.org.

Here are the links I said I would make available:

Visitor data for JEADigitalMedia.org: http://bit.ly/9fEoUf
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeadigitalmedia
Facebook: http://facebook.com/jeadigitalmedia
Guide to Moving Online: http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/guide-to-moving-online/
Guide to Video and Broadcast: http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/guide-to-broadcast-video/
Guide to Multimedia Tools: http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/multimedia-tools/
Guide to Live Video Streaming of Sports Events: http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/livevideo/

Rebecca Pollard, MJE

National High School Journalist of the Year Committee Chair

Heritage High School

14040 Eldorado Parkway

Frisco, TX 75035

W: 469-633-5900 x25914 | H: 972-523-0384

pollardr@friscoisd.org

We had another great year for the Journalist of the Year contest. In April we awarded one national winner and six runners-up for this contest. After receiving 33 state-winning entries, a judging panel of 40 combed over each one and invested in these candidates as if they were their own student journalists. I appreciate each one of them for their dedication and talents to this tedious process. My hope each year is that this contest is given the proper attention to detail and is fair to all candidates. These judges did just that, as each portfolio had multiple rounds of judges looking, reading and evaluating each one.

I listen to member and state director feedback and work those suggestions into our procedures for future contests. Not all feedback can be put into action, but I appreciate those who reach out with suggestions. I review each detail to seriously consider what we can implement. I also surveyed those who participated in the 2016 contest, as well as the judges. From all feedback, I have a list of items I am working on for the 2017 contest. Improvements include:

An expanded list of portfolio examples are now available. In addition to the ones on the right navigation bar of our website sub-page, you can find even more on our press release for the 2016 contest.

For future contests, state winners will be notified in the application process that we will link their portfolio sites from ours, as future applicants can use them as a tool to help them cultivate their own ideas on how to build their portfolio of work examples.

We will also provide nametag judge ribbons to those who serve on the national JOY committee if they are in attendance at the spring convention.

For those who agree to judge, a letter will be sent to their local administration as a notification of their commitment to scholastic journalism. We will share with them about how our members are volunteering their time to this national contest.

In Seattle, we will host our first meet-and-greet for those who participate in the 2017 national contest. Both previous candidates and judges have expressed interest in getting together as a way to network and talk about the contest.

Moving forward, the requirements and guidelines for the contest are similar to last year. Most of the refining is behind the scenes.

In Los Angeles, the 2015 Journalist of the Year, Julia Poe, and I presented a session to JOY hopefuls about applying for the contest and how to build a portfolio. We gave advice from their experience to help those who attend. I would like to thank Julia for her time and talents to help future candidates.

The following students were recognized at the Sunday awards ceremony at the spring convention in Los Angeles:

2016 National High School Journalist of the Year

Kellen Browning of Davis Senior High School, Davis, Calif. (Kelly Wilkerson, adviser)

Runners-up

Will Clark, St. Mark’s School of Texas, Dallas, Texas (Ray Westbrook, adviser)

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