Krista Johnson
@KristaJ1993
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Native Iowan covering education for @courierjournal / previously ed reporter for @mgmadvertiser . Retweeting things I find weird, offensive and awesome.
Louisville, Kentucky
Joined August 2013
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As a first generation student myself, I found myself getting very emotional while interviewing Mr. Baker - realizing how much I would have benefitted from such mentorship when I was in school.
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Professional news: Today marks my first day as a breaking news reporter for the
@courierjournal
!
Montgomery has been an amazing experience for me - I've learned so much over the past 3 years and I'm very excited to be joining such a talented team in Louisville.
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Career news: after a one-year hiatus, I am moving back to the Ed beat! Starting next month I’ll be covering
@JCPSKY
- while continuing to work with my awesome team
@courierjournal
🤗🤗
Send me the names of the people I need to know pleassee
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Before the Class of 2020 finished their high school careers, 19 peers 18 or younger were killed.
Here is a thread about how this violence impacts Montgomery’s youth:
(1/12)
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"We know trans children exist," one teacher said. "Even more so, we know that they deserve to exist. ... They exist, they are real and they are in pain, asking for us to stand with and protect them."
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Just found
@CaitlinPacific
last week via hazing deaths. And now she gives us this:
"If you want to know if you’re rich, try behaving badly and see if someone in authority will apologize for stretching your patience and emotional capacity." 🤣🤣
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The husband of an Oldham County board member appears to have known about an ORR I sent to the district the same day, and recently called a mom a Karen for the ORR she submitted. When asked for comment, this is what he said 🥴
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News : I’ve been accepted into
@EdWriters
New to the Beat program. I’m going to learn lots of new skills to make me better at my job and get paired with a veteran Ed reporter for the next six months. I’m beyond excited about this opportunity ☺️☺️
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D-Aye joins the short list of rappers from Alabama’s capital city to land a record deal.
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Dear humans,
As you are typing out an email to a stranger, ask yourself if you’d say those words to said stranger’s face.
Sincerely,
Someone who is not paid enough to have so many snarky, judgmental, rude, unfair, nasty, ignorant things sent to her.
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Whoa BIG BOMB DROPPED.
The board will consider excluding Central from the list of magnets that will no longer receive transportation.
At
@JCPSKY
board meeting tonight, where there are no seats left and 100+ people outside hoping to get in. The public comment section is up first, then we will hear about the investigative report on what went went so wrong on day 1 of the school year.
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More than 100 people have gathered outside Louisville’s federal courthouse in support of abortion rights.
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My boss said I handled the JCPS busing fiasco with aplomb and I didn't know what that word meant before today but now I am very pleased with the usage.
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"The same people who look like me are the ones who are blocking this. It’s a race problem," District 5's Jannah Bailey said.
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Traveled down a creepy hallway to find this gem of a bathroom inside the
@courierjournal
. It is very yellow.
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The
@courierjournal
is in Shively today and the rest of the month as part of our mobile newsroom initiative!
Our first visitor to stop in was Ernest Jackson, who has lived in the community for 50 years. Look forward to hearing more about his story!
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Here are the names and faces of the 19 who died too early:
(5/12)
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143
@JCPSKY
drivers called out today, each sacrificing their attendance bonus. For some drivers, that's about $700 every two weeks.
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It’s gonna be worth every penny this week 💁🏻💁🏻
.
@MGMAdvertiser
just to let you know, I subscribed to your paper last week merely because I maxed the free reads behind your paywall reading
@KristaJ1993
’s recent pieces alone.
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And in case you were wondering about the history behind these schools gaining their names:
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"There's no doubt that if we are going to address our hiring needs, we have to focus on increasing wages for our employees,"
@JCPSSuper
said.
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Are there any employers willing to pay me for the hours I spent dreaming about work at night? It's not an insignificant amount..
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“Imagine how it felt listening to my son, at 7 years old, explain how he is going to end his life so he could go be with his big brother. Imagine how that feels for me. This is because of what this person has done.”
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Last week I mentioned meeting an incredible senior. She lost both parents, rides the city bus to school, watches over younger sister, stays on the honor roll, works and plays basketball. And, she has more wisdom than me by far. Here's the story:
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I just convinced my editors that my story idea is super good.
And I found two crinkled up $10 bills in an old purse.
Annnddd I’m making pasta for dinner!
Best Wednesday ever 🥳🥳🤘🏻
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For this project, the
@MGMAdvertiser
partnered with
@ArtByKevinKing
, who called on local artists to illustrate the impact violence has on communities.
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This makes me feel sorta famous y’all 🤗
In Alabama’s capital city, an epidemic of violence has shadowed the class of 2020 throughout their high school careers. Reporter
@KristaJ1993
set out to learn more about those who died in the latest episode of
#EWARadio
:
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“When a soldier returns home, they’re not in that battlefield. These kids, we send them back to that battlefield every day."
Photos and awesome videos by the
@jakevcrandall
(2/12)
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"So now our kids no longer have a way to school and people no longer have a way to work and a whole group of people are about to lose their employment," TARC drivers' union president said of the decrease in services.
What most view as a major pitfall for one system could be a perk for another,
@LouisvilleMayor
argued.
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Death, body bags and little pay: Why Kentucky's coroners make minimal wages
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"For the first year of Cory's death, on the 25th of every month, I stood out there on that corner," Rose Smith said. "God was preparing me to purchase this place."
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All Kentucky districts are required to implement a literacy program rooted in the Science of Reading for K-3 students.
@JCPSKY
is going beyond that, implementing a new program that for all K-8 students.
It will cost ~$9 million.
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And this is why, when we talk about education, this story is so important:
(7/12)
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One month into her senior year, Helen Brown’s boyfriend was shot to death in a McDonald’s parking lot. In such a short life, she's experienced a kind of ongoing trauma that few adults can imagine.
(4/12)
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In addition to the loss of classmates, many of the community’s young people have lost parents, siblings, aunts and uncles and cousins and neighbors who were gunned down.
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As reporters we are supposed to be obnoxiously and unrealistically unbiased, but there are constant trauma triggers we have to work through/ check ourselves on daily. We bring our own trauma into situations, then add everyone else’s trauma on.
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Since classes ended in late May, 17 people were killed in Montgomery. How many of their names were important to a student preparing for their next school year?
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The increase will provide an additional $33 million to MPS, increasing their millage rate from the state mandated minimum of 10 mills up to 22 mills.
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What a start to what will likely become a very long week!
Of note, investigators found:
-a lack of sufficient data keeping
-an abnormally high rate of staff fearing retribution for providing information
-poor communication on lots of fronts
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Recognized nationally for its performance, former students and parents claim LAMP has a toxic, intolerant, racially insensitive environment fueled by a cutthroat mentality to protect its reputation over student well-being.
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Just outside Dawson Springs, where Kentucky State Police have blocked the town’s entrance, awaiting for the arrival of
@POTUS
.
The town was among the hardest hit areas by Friday’s unprecedented tornado.
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My boss is mean. But read my article anyways.
Oh, bless her heart. She didn't know who Nick Saban is before she attended her first Iron Bowl. (She's from Iowa, not Mars FYI)
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During tonight's
@MPSAL
virtual board meeting, hundreds tuned in to urge via the comment section that the district changes the names of its three high schools named after Confederates.
The process, though, is harder than expected.
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West Montgomery's
@RockstarJt
signed to
@rmgtweets
today.
“I seen a lot but what motivated me was ‘How can I be a change?’ ‘How can I be something different — something other than another statistic?’"
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This story has been updated with lots more details of what unfolded tonight and what happens moving forward.
I'll have more stories in the morning and with so many more questions to ask, many more stories in the weeks and months (and years?) to come.
Check out this article from Courier Journal:
JCPS board members vote to end magnet transportation for all but two high schools
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In McAllen, Texas thanks to the
@NatPress
learning about some of the most pressing issues our babies are facing.
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Today was the first day of school in Montgomery!
Last year only about 7K of MPS' 28K students returned for face to face instruction, but now most are back in the classroom.
Also, two new charters opened in the city today. And, Valiant Cross welcomed it's first senior class.
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Proud to have an editor and be a part of a team that believes in serving all of our community and understands how powerful relationship building is in achieving that.
Solutions journalism can radically change your relationship with your community and even to your beat. But it's not always easy.
We talked to
@BroKrift
+
@KristaJ1993
about the ups and downs of reimagining journalism at a paper with a difficult history.
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Feel good story: Rodney Clay became 'Ambassador of San Angelo YMCA' despite the challenges of autism via
@gosanangelo
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What do we call this? Is the third, first day of school? Orrrr?
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"We see mass shootings on TV and we'd say we're so blessed to live in a small secluded place like this in the mountains with country people who protect each other."
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This is pretty cool 🤓
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During the first 3 weeks of school last year, bus riders collectively missed about 469,000 instructional minutes due to late buses.
This year, during the same time period, that rate more than tripled at 1,501,039.
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ICYMI: I wrote about Montgomery's rap scene - looking at its history, "it is a a storyline filled with murder."
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In November 1965 — a century after the end of the Civil War — Montgomery's new high school was named, “in memory of Jefferson Davis, the first and last president of the Confederate States of America.”
It became the city's third high school named after a Confederate soldier.
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“These statues and monuments should have been removed long ago and these activists just did what the city hasn’t had the courage to do." -
@capetownbrown
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Wanna read an amazing story and cry repeatedly throughout it? Here ya go.
Marbury midfielder Sarah Caver had her senior season cut short due to COVID-19, but it’s nothing compared to what she’s endured: adopted from Romania and raised by an American mother that she lost to cancer in 2018.
Victory is her story. Read more:
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My
@courierjournal
coworkers put out some bangers today. (Bangers aka stories that will make you cry).
First, this piece from
@MaggieMenderski
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Gathering my stories from this past week into a word document because the prison where one of my best friends is at doesn't let me send him actual newspaper clips anymore.
And, I just want to shamefully brag about the fact that I wrote 9 stories this week.
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This story has me excited. Alabama is a rock star when it comes to pre-K but folks are realizing children learn so much before age 4. So, they decided to be intentional in ensuring babies get what babies need.
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I hate to add confusion to this situation but this is all truly confusing. I'm not sure how a Scenario 3 could be discussed less than 3 hours ago with a member of
@JCPSSuper
cabinet that now allegedly does not exist.
Trust I have asked for an explanation.
Dr. Pollio says there is no option 3 but JCPS spox Carolyn Callahan said Chief of Schools Robert Moore called the Zoom with middle/high principals a couple hours ago to talk about option 3.
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"The kids do horrible things to drivers — they spit on them, they cuss at them and the other kids who are good are scared to ride the bus.”
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Getting to attend events like these make me so grateful for the job I've been given. I can't explain the overwhelming feeling of being in a place so important to this country's history. (Story coming, but look at these photos!)
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I just stood and said The Pledge of Allegiance in my living room during a virtual board meeting. Interesting times.
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As fellow journos can imagine, I've received some interesting emails today after releasing my story about LAMP High. Not all of them were very favorable.
But, this one, this one right here, was very kind and is very appreciated <3
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I love when an email starts with 'I haven't been paying close attention,' then goes on about all the things I should have reported, that I have, in fact, reported.
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"We were a family of 21, now it's 16," Selveta Besic said, after losing her sister-in-law and four nieces and nephews.
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Sharing this again because there are so many nonprofits in Montgomery doing amazing work that needs to be supported!
Now in its 3rd year, the Gannett Foundation's Community Thrives' program is offering $2 million in grants to nonprofits across the country in order to turn community improvement ideas into reality.
APPLY!
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I've heard more times than I can count that
@MPSAL
spends too much on central office and too little on the classroom. This data, though, shows otherwise.
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We also asked local leaders to write about it from their perspectives.
(9/12)
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Cute older woman who called my desk phone today started by apologizing for her dog in the background. At 5 lbs, named Marilyn Monroe, "She gets to do whatever she wants to do because that's what Marilyn Monroe got to do."
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The fact that there are other presentations on tonight’s
@JCPSKY
agenda that aren’t transportation related really pains me 😣
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With over half of the precinct totals in, over 23,000 voters have supported the property tax increase, compared to about 15,200 who voted against.
@MPSAL
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"We have really been hit by something no one anticipated,"
@egmackey
said. "Even as late as late June, everyone anticipated we were going to be in pretty good shape. I don’t think anyone saw this spike coming..."
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Tomorrow is the day!
#JCPSDay1
About 97K students will show for class across the
@JCPSKY
system.
A team of
@courierjournal
reporters and photographers will be all over seeing how things are going. Follow us for regular updates && let us know how it goes for your students.
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(11/12)
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Fun tidbit of info in here from the
@KyPolicy
:Kentucky teachers are making less now than they did 16 years ago, when adjusted for inflation.
The report said that compared to 2008, Kentucky teacher pay is down nearly $10,000 in real dollars.
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According to Mayor
@stevenlouisreed
, the most consequential vote for Montgomery tomorrow is a referendum that would give
@MPSAL
an additional $33 million annually – funding that has the potential to make drastic changes in the education of students.
1/11
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"I’m not sure why I was the target. I think it’s a little bit of retaliation. I think it is discrimination. I definitely believe it is an abuse of power."
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I'm a list maker. I have lists for all of the things. The list I made for 'stories to read' though, is becoming quite stressful. It just grows and grows and grows.
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Check out this article from Courier Journal:
JCPS board members vote to end magnet transportation for all but two high schools
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"What responsibility do we bear, over six decades later, for the challenges in the educational landscape that we see in the city today?" John McWilliams asked, pointing to the fact that Montgomery Academy was opened as an all-white school in 1959.
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I've been working on a project for months that would have been published by now, before the roni hit. It had me working weekends and sitting down with families to talk about their pain. It was mentally exhausting.
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I'm at the California Community Center today alongside
@LucasAulbach
&
@Joe_Gerth
. Come talk to us!
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Over 15,000 people have signed a petition advocating for the name change of three
@MPSAL
high schools.
"This is the time to move forward and actually show action behind the words," one advocate said, referring to MPS' "Moving Forward" motto.
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I want to know the nonprofit leaders working with our students, the PTA leaders, the teachers going above and beyond, and all parents who feel unheard.
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Mayfield alone suffered the destruction of four massive ag operations, plus so much more throughout the state.
"It will take a couple weeks to wrap our heads around the economic damage that this storm caused,"
@KYAgCommish
said.
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It's been a long journey with several steps, but come November, Montgomery residents will get the chance to vote on increasing funding for
@MPSAL
.
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There’s some new data I received yesterday included in here - of note:
-72% of Central students who rely on busing are also considered economically disadvantage
-At Young, 73%
-At Johnson Traditional, 60%
(All West End schools - more on that coming)
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Yessss please, the
@MGMAdvertiser
appreciates the support!
I need all my fans and supporters to make sure they buy the Montgomery Advertiser Newspaper today our in the stores.. I made The front Page 🙏🏿💙🌹
#HM
™️
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Small Shively food tour for lunch today.
A nice man named Joell at the International Food Market had real nice samosas && at Bud’s Tavern they’ll let you order as many (or as few) wings you want! Mango Habanero sauce 🔥🔥
Plus it was Taco Tuesday ☺️
@courierjournal
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So many tears were shed over this story.
I listened to
@KristaJ1993
talk with students who wept and parents who got angry while describing the climate at LAMP. I'm glad we have her to help tell their stories
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Reading Recovery is not supported by KDE and has come under national scrutiny, with one of the strategies the program uses being banned in multiple states.
Still, UK just gave nearly $1 mill to expand its reach across Kentucky.
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None of the board members who called for this meeting have answered my calls.
@JCPSKY
chief equity officer has criticized the board over tonight's meeting - which doesn't allow for public comment and comes 1 day before a scheduled community meeting.
His thoughts were also echoed by
@LouisvilleUL
President
@sonofEarl33
.
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