As Sara and I were working to create LAEdEx, we originally planned to launch after the March primary elections. Concerned that the website not be seen as just an election vehicle for progressive candidates, we were nevertheless compelled to report on the unfolding extreme efforts to influence, and stakes surrounding the four contested seats for the LAUSD Board of Education.
We decided to rush the rollout, without even a fully formed social media strategy and just a bare-bones design on our website. But our reporting on the enormous spending and onerous campaign literature was timely and presented in a way sufficiently different from mainstream media as to move understanding and coverage forward. While the media did a pretty good job covering who was spending money on what candidates, we are proud to have been a substantive part of that conversation.
Moving forward we’d love to have a fundraising strategy in place for the long-term that would allow us to pay for an editor or other written contributions. But for now, our plan remains simply to provide quality articles and opinion pieces to help inform and empower supporters of public education.
We hope to continue publishing with near-daily articles by Sara Roos and a weekly headlines roundup by yours truly. But we’re also hoping to add stories submitted by writers from around Los Angeles, either ones that first appeared on their own websites or appear exclusively on Los Angeles Education Examiner.
As for Facebook (join our group, here), we plan to have a group that is both a place for us to showcase our articles and provide an opportunity for two-way communication between our readers and our writers. It is not intended to compete with or mirror other excellent resources for parents and educators on Facebook such as Parents Supporting Teachers or the UTLA. To complement our coverage with interactive input, you might see a heavier hand in deleting posts that aren’t relevant to the issue of public education or are just grandstanding or a repost of something from another group.
You can also keep up with our website by following us on Twitter or sign up for our newsletter on the right. You will receive automatic notification of posting that way the better to enable you to join in the conversation.
If you’d like to contact us, it’s as easy as dropping a comment here or on social media or emailing damien@la-edex.org or sara@la-edex.org.
Thanks for your support and please pass word along to your friends. Onward!