The Thursday Elicker Zoom presser.
On Thursday, Mayor Justin Elicker’s daily online pandemic press conference came with a twist: all the questions were asked by student reporters.
Fourteen up-and-coming youth journalists from New Haven middle and high schools, notably East Rock Magnet, joined the mayor via Zoom to discuss the city’s short and long-term plans to respond to the ongoing pandemic.
Adult reporters who normally attend the briefings were not included in the session.
Many, but not all, of the questions focused on the Elicker Administration’s plans for online learning, and the future of public schools in general. Students also asked about the city’s plans to deal with an increasing budget deficit, how the pandemic has affected Elicker’s other goals, and the prospects for teenage summer employment in City programs.
Norah Matz, a fourth grader at East Rock Magnet with two years of experience writing for the school’s newspaper, the East Rock Record, said she thought the press conference “went well.”
“I felt confident,” she said about questioning the mayor about how he thinks schools will look when they eventually reopen. The budding reporter said she “might want to do a little bit of journalism” when she’s an adult; recently, she wrote an opinion piece describing how not all students have the ability to adapt to online education.
Older students were present on the call as well.
Johanyx Rodriguez, a junior at High School in the Community, showed up ready to question the mayor on whether EBT benefits will be provided to students. Rodriguez, who said she is “new to reporting,” said she was glad for the virtual press conference because it “felt like I had a connection with this public official,” ensuring that “I wasn’t left out in the dark.”
Rodriguez’s field of interest is science, not journalism. But he said that participating in the Zoom session was “a nice experience.”
Rodriguez also asked the mayor for some “motivating words.”
“This will end, we will get back to normal life,” Elicker responded. “It’ll take time. So many adults in the community want to support you and work with you.”
The idea to host a virtual press conference with questions from New Haven students came from the mayor’s office, according to Laura Pappano, the adviser and founder of the East Rock Record.
Eight of the fourteen students present were from the Record, which has, after six years of print distribution, recently moved online. Pappano said that as the virus began to spread, she “suspected” the paper might have to begin posting stories on the web, and so “worked really hard to have story drafts written before school closed.”
Since then, she and the other Record adult staff have “reached out to students via email, seeking for students to send in responses and articles about school at home.”
“The questions kids came up with were great!” Pappano said. “One thing I so admire about our reporters is that they have become just fantastically curious people who are able to ask insightful questions about our community and our world.” Students at the Record are in grades 3 through 8. Pappano said that all of the stories in the publication, which is circulated to roughly 3,500 people, are created by students.
“That’s why the stories are so brilliant,” she added.
Click here to read the latest edition of the East Rock Record.
Click here and here to read previous stories about its reporters grilling New Haven officials.
This is the feel-good news I've needed to read. Shout out to these young people asking questions the adults around them won't!