No story, no scandal

In another example of slanted reporting to further its own agenda, the Lowell Sun ran a story in Monday’s edition entitled “City schools close, yet custodians increase.” The reporter makes the point that two schools were closed, the McDonough City Magnet and the Demonstration School, yet the district hired five new custodians. First of all the McDonough building is still in use, now as the Freshman Academy, and therefore still needs custodial services. The Demonstration School was part of the University and was cleaned by the University, so its closing had no effect whatsoever on the District’s need for custodians. The story goes on to explain that four custodians were hired for the new Stoklosa School and are currently split between the Cardinal O’Connell and the Molloy, where the Stoklosa students are temporarily (we hope!) attending school. The fifth new custodian went to the Pawtucketville Memorial, which was short one custodian. In other words, there is no story, no scandal, just an inflammatory headline that is designed to whip up support for a movement to privatize the district’s custodial services.