This week we are introducing a special page in the Saratoga Sun for kids called Kid’s Scoop. This is developed by a retired college professor and designed to engage elementary age students with some educational and fun features that will promote reading. Reading is something we can just take for granted; maybe pass by the importance since it seems second nature to us. But not to all of us. There is an unfortunate incidence of kids reading behind grade level in our schools nationwide. Students who fall behind in reading level fall behind in school overall, students who fall behind in school overall have a high probability of dropping out of school. And, there then is a correlation between kids who leave high school without graduating and young people who begin to make their way through the justice system. Some states even look at the percentage of students not reading at grade level to make future plans for prison cells.
The op-ed you see from Wyoming State Rep. Landon Brown came to us this week, and the timing was perfect. It addresses this same topic, and emphasizes the value of making sure our students, and all students across the United States, have every resource they need to read at, or above, grade level from kindergarten to graduation.
The importance of reading can not be overstated. It is the hub of the education wheel. We hope Kid’s Scoop will be well received, and create an interactive experience between parents and their students. Right now we plan on running this every week between now and Carbon County School District 2 winter break in December. We very well may continue it beyond that - even make it a permanent feature, depending on the feedback we receive.
Saratoga Sun Survey
And speaking of feedback. In our newspaper of September 21 we will have an informal survey of readers. We want to determine what sections of the newspaper are important to our subscribers and readers. We are particularly interested in some of the special sections - puzzles and reflections, by example. A few weeks ago I downloaded the crossword puzzle, and then put it in the paper again. The second time I placed it where the answers should have been. Big mistake. You might think. But we only heard from one person about this error. It certainly seems to me that if the crossword was a popular feature more people would have brought this to our attention. Complained even. So, how important are some of these sections to readers? We do want to learn more about what our readers want. And what else might we include that you would like to see. I believe in the value of surveys. In my former world - digital publishing - I could see where the page views were. As tracking technology became more advanced, even how long readers were spending on various pages or sections. We don’t have that in our print edition. But sometimes people do give you input on your publication. By not renewing, or cancelling their subscription. Fortunately we have seen an increase in subscriptions recently. And we have seen a very significant increase in our social media interaction.
A note about social media
And speaking of social media. Like baseball has unwritten rules so does social media. We do welcome interaction from our readers. That said; we do need to have a certain decorum. One, a personal pet peeve of mine, is that your comment should follow the thread of the post. So, if there is a Facebook post about a government office being closed for a holiday that is not the place to talk about the best tacos in town. And we will remove it. Then there is profanity. The social media accounts of the Saratoga Sun is not the same kind of account as your old baseball team. Then too, we will sometimes publish a breaking news story. Breaking news would not include Starbucks bringing pumpkin spice back. Breaking news will almost always involve a story that has an emotional charge. We get that. But the comments expressed still need to withhold profanity, inflammatory or threatening language. And comments that we deem to be outside the boundaries appropriate on a corporate site will be deleted.
Reader Comments(0)