Reporters' Notebook - Comment about NSBA Story - Marin IJ - April 15, 2006

Reproters' Notebook
Comment about NSBA Story
Marin IJ
April 1, 2006
An article detailing how Sausalito Marin City educators were among the few from Marin to travel to Chicago for a conference at taxpayer expense came under fire from the district's public relations officer, Martin Brown, who called it "a hit piece."

"You mentioned Richard Simmons was one of the speakers in the story, but none of the educators who spoke," Brown fumed.

The story relied on information from the conference's Web site to list keynote speakers, including workout guru Simmons.

Among the Sausalito officials who attended the National School Boards Association's annual conference at the Lakeside Center at McCormick Place were trustees Thomas Clark, George Stratigos and Shirley Ann Thornton, as well as Superintendent Debra Bradley. The tab: roughly $7,000.

The district may have to forfeit the $650 conference registration fee for a fourth trustee, Robert Fisher, who canceled at the last minute.