Banda Interview

Dear readers, I will put it to you - should I write about the media interview I was at this morning with Superintendent Banda with or without impressions?  Meaning, I could just write the questions and answers without my take on them.

 I thought maybe it would make more sense to give my impressions on Thursday after the last interview of finalists so I would have some comparisons to make.

I'll wait a bit for answers and then go from there. 

Comments

Watching said…
Go factual.
4/24/12, 1:02 PM
Anonymous said…
Go factual, AND give your impressions. Why not?

YNot
4/24/12, 1:07 PM
Watching said…
Brian Rosenthal tweets:

"There was nearly an uprising at Seattle school HQ this am. Media VERY unhappy w/ presser split up in 15 min slots, and let district know it"

What is going on?
4/24/12, 1:09 PM
Anonymous said…
I'd vote only facts first. Does it make sense to hold off on reporting specific questions and answers until all the candidates have interviewed? Generally I wouldn't care, but I don't want Husk to have any advantage whatsoever in this process.

Looking forward to reading both the facts and the impressions.

SPS Mom of 2
4/24/12, 1:10 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Robert Mak from KING 5 pressed the point of how it seemed wrong to divide us up. I wish he had told all of us to rise up because we might have gotten some traction.

The first session went long as did the second and the last session was just Brian and me so we did get a lot of questions in.

I would have been happy to be in a crowded room for one 45-minute session to hear all the questions and answers.
4/24/12, 1:20 PM
Watching said…
SPS Mom of 2 makes an excellent point.

Wow. Breaking up the press is certainly concerning.
4/24/12, 1:27 PM
Anonymous said…
According to a subsequent tweet from Rosenthal, SPS said media was split up b/c there were too many? But he said there were only about 10 people there. That's bonkers.

Did all the media get to see/hear the q & a's. (that is to say, if you were sequestered, could each media rep ask the same question, or versions of it??)

Melissa, was it recorded (like the board meetings)? Do you know?

thanks !
-sps mom
4/24/12, 1:35 PM
Anonymous said…
poorly phrased question.. sorry. what i meant was...

since the media was divided up, was each group given the benefit of at least hearing all the other questions and Mr. Banda's answers? Otherwise, couldn't each group end up (unintentionlly) asking essentially the same or similar question/s?

If there really was a space cruncht then certainly they could have piped in the audio so the following groups could hear what the prior groups had asked.

--sps mom
4/24/12, 1:44 PM
Anonymous said…
When you post facts I'm sure commenters will follow with opinions, so I'd love to have your impressions from the get-go, Melissa. You can always do a solid comparison thread at the end of the week.
--A
4/24/12, 1:44 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
No, the media did not hear each others' questions. I would have been perfectly happy being told to only ask questions during my section BUT being able to listen in to the rest of the questions by other media.

We were not allowed to do that.

There was not a crush of media and I hope this changes for the other interviews.

Was it recorded? I don't know. I do know that there was a camera guy in there during our session but no reporter with him.
4/24/12, 1:57 PM
Jamie said…
I'm with YNot - facts & impressions please.
4/24/12, 2:08 PM
Brian M. Rosenthal said…
I recorded all the media sessions and will do the same the rest of the week.

Here's my blog post on Banda this morning - it includes his answers from my session and answers to other reporters that I recorded: http://today.seattletimes.com/2012/04/superintendent-finalists-plan-stabilize-district-avoid-big-changes/

Full story will be in tomorrow's paper.

--
Brian M. Rosenthal
Education reporter | The Seattle Times
http://www.twitter.com/brianmrosenthal
4/24/12, 2:18 PM
Anonymous said…
Sounds like a freakin' carnival. Why does Seattle School District like sloppy make it up as you go processes?

-Aaarghh!
4/24/12, 10:30 PM
Patrick said…
Why does Seattle School District like sloppy make it up as you go processes?

To show the candidates what they'd be in for if they took the job, of course...
4/24/12, 11:46 PM
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