KCMO School District Superitendent John Covington.
03-10-2010/03-12-2010 USA TODAY: 'HALF OF KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO CLOSE' CITY OFFICIALS: AP REPORT WRONG; GIVES KCMO NATIONAL BLACK EYE Remember how you used to believe virtually everything reported by the Associated Press? Well that train left the station years ago and KCMO officials can attest to that. City officials in Kansas City, MO., are furious over what they consider an erroneous Associated Press headline involving school closings they feel is giving the city an undeserved nationwide black eye. Heather Hollingsworth, an AP reporter based in Kansas City, filed a story (LINK) on the recent school closings in the Kansas City School District (3/10) that went out with the headline "Kansas City, MO. Closing Nearly Half Its Schools." The story was immediately picked up by major media outlets across the nation such as MSNBC, the Boston Globe, Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, Tacoma News Tribune, Las Vegas Sun and literally hundreds of others. USA Today headlined its erroneous story (based on "staff and wires reports) as "HALF OF KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO CLOSE." The national Drudge Report used this headline: "Half of Kansas City's schools to close by fall." That is completel erroneous. Some city officials contacted Bottom Line to stress that KCMO is NOT closing half its schools. Yes, the Kansas City School DISTRICT will be closing 26 of 59 of its schools to reduce costs, but overall there are about 233 schools in all of Kansas City, Missouri. In fact, there are 12 separate school districts (In fact, the North Kansas City School District is larger than the KCMO District) within the city limits of KCMO. "The reports of half of Kansas City's schools closing is blatantly wrong," said a furious city official. "This is the type of reporting that scares people from moving to Kansas City and gives us a black eye that we do not deserve."
KANSAS OR MISSOURI? "Regarding the school closings story, I will add ABCnews.com's erroneous headline, which as of 11:00 in the morning, was still on its front page:"Mass School Closures Approved in Kansas."
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