K–12

So you want to cover your local school system, but don’t know where to start?

First take a deep breath. Remember, you’ve been to school before, or may still be in school, so it’s not a totally foreign place.

To get a quick peek at the important issues on the desks of your area’s top education officials, look up the website for your local school board. Once you find it, search for a copy of the next meeting’s agenda, past minutes and any other available documents. If you can’t find any of this information, look for the board secretary’s name and number, then call and ask him or her to give you a copy. Why do you want them? Because they can generally give you a helpful sense of what’s going on, what decisions are being made, who’s making decisions and why. And because state law makes the documents public, the secretary is usually glad to give you the information. One more tip: If you run into a roadblock, don’t be afraid to write and send over a request for records under California's Public Records Act. If you are at a loss on how to do so or what is available under the law, there are lots of resources to help you, including several listed on our site under Additional Resources. The Student Press Law Center also can help you generate a letter asking for public records, if you're still unsure of what language to use when crafting your request.