By Tracy Dingmann

There was some interesting pushback in the paper today. It came from Albuquerque Public Schools superintendent Winston Brooks, who is lucky enough to have a regular column in the paper.

I say lucky because in his July 13 column, Brooks got the opportunity to directly address some pretty pointed criticism that came his way last week – in a news story, no less.

The provocatively-titled July 6 story was called, “Sorry, Not For You, Kids,” and here was the lead:

For much of the past year, Albuquerque Public Schools officials have touted the benefits of getting Promethean white boards into classrooms.

But nine of the boards, which cost about $5,000 each, are either installed or soon will be in the district’s administrative buildings, where they will be used to train teachers.

The story went on to examine the benefits of white boards, which have been shown to increase student achievement when used by a well-trained teacher.

The story noted that APS is in the process of installing 500 boards this summer as part of a three-year plan to install a total of 3,000 boards. About $17 million in capital funds, which will include training and installation expenses, has been budgeted to pay for the boards.

But here’s the apparent genesis of Journal’s snippy headline:

Of the nine boards that won’t be in classrooms, five are or will be at APS’s Uptown headquarters and another four are at the Montgomery Complex teacher training facility.

The boards were installed in training rooms instead of classrooms because teachers and others who will use the boards have to be trained on how to use them, the district’s director of technology told the Journal.

That seems to make perfect sense. And remember, it’s a total of NINE boards that won’t be in classrooms – nine out of 500.

So I guess I thought the headline was a little harsh. And misleading.

Perhaps Brooks thought so, too.

Six days later, Brook’s regular column in the paper’s “Schools” section was called, “White Boards: The Future is Now.” It began with him telling us how excited he is that training for the first wave of 620 APS teachers who will use the boards in the classroom has begun. The rest of the column was an advertisement for the white boards and what they will be able to do for APS students.

And so, in that way, Brooks was able to use his column as a direct way to address the criticism raised in the news story.

Interesting. All the more power to him, I guess. Most people who get slammed in the Journal have to be content with writing a letter to the editor.