Letter: Why isn't the Mitchell Republic holding the school board accountable?

To the Editor:

The Mitchell Republic’s email dated March 21, 2023, “What if local reporters stopped covering the school board?” is very interesting. At first, I thought it was a joke. Wow! The paper has a sense of humor. It was like an inept employee writing their own performance appraisal, a lot of glitz but short on reality. I believe it’s a remarkable piece of false advertising. Instead of holding the school board accountable, the Mitchell Republic has done the opposite.

The Mitchell Republic failed to report on and hold the school board accountable for refusing to conduct any engineering and feasibility assessments for less expensive, equally effective alternatives to building an overpriced new high school. Instead a “local reporter” demonized the Mitchell Citizens for Progress townhall and the engineers who provided unofficial personal observations that renovation was a viable alternative. A couple letters to the editor exposing the bias reporting were definitely not from “local reporters.”

The same occurred with the school board’s unconstitutional, destructive and divisive mask mandates for two consecutive years. An overwhelming number of parents and concerned citizens including South Dakota State Sen. Josh Klumb spoke against it at the August 30, 2021, school board meeting. The School Board excluded the content and extent of opposition in their minutes. Yet, nothing from the Mitchell Republic holding the school accountable.

Except for Mr. Steve Sibson’s own letters to the editor, the school board was again given a pass by the Mitchell Republic’s failure to report on Sibson’s presentations about CRT and Project 1619 propaganda contained in the Mitchell High School Social Studies book at multiple school board meetings.

Contrary to Mitchell Republic’s claim, “Local reporters” holding the school board accountable is visibly absent and appears to be intentional censorship or misrepresentation falsely leading readers to believe the school board is doing a great job.

Overall, the Mitchell Republic fails to report all the facts, but it does an exceptional job of selective reporting favoring the school board.

Barbara Stadler

Mitchell