A LETTER FROM THE MELISSA WHITLER

Dear readers,

At the end of this week, I am leaving Minneapolis Schools Voices. It’s been an honor the past three years to build Minneapolis Schools Voices with Charlie and Melody. I am enormously proud of the reporting we have done as a small, neighborhood newsroom. The consistent growth in our newsletter subscribers and readers is a reflection of the quality of our work.

Much of the reporting I am most proud of was only possible because of individuals who were sources, on and off the record. Many of these sources were willing to share information that would have otherwise been kept from the public because they believed it was important for the public to know. It is an honor to have their trust, and to know so many people dedicated to making MPS the public schools students deserve.

I don’t have an exciting announcement for “what’s next.” Professionally, I hope I will have the opportunity to occasionally report on education as a freelancer. Personally, I am looking forward to spending more time with my husband and son, and having more time in the pottery studio. Uncertainty usually makes me feel uncomfortable. But I know growth doesn’t happen in comfort and I’m excited to see what happens next.

I’m not leaving MPS or Minneapolis, so reach out any time. I’m always ready for a conversation about our public schools.

Thank you for reading,

Melissa

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A LETTER FROM THE MINNEAPOLIS VOICES TEAM

On behalf of the whole Minneapolis Voices team, we first want to express our gratitude for Melissa Whitler and her service to keeping people informed about what’s going on in the city’s school system.

When we first met Melissa, she was live-tweeting school board meetings to about 50 people. Melissa wasn’t doing this as a journalist, she was doing it as a parent that felt under-informed about what the school board was up to during the pandemic while they debated a major restructuring of the school district.

Through her passion, intelligence, and willingness to challenge and dig deeper on the information being shared with the public, Melissa has done more than just about anyone to shine a light on the district’s activities over the past couple of years.

The district continues to face a budget deficit that will force some difficult choices, and Melissa’s work to bring forward the realities and causes of that budget gap have made us all smarter about where the district is headed. We built Minneapolis Schools Voices because we found Melissa, and structured the publication around her skill set, and it’s difficult to express how grateful we are for sharing her gifts with us and the whole city.

While none of this would’ve been possible without her, it’s up to all of us to figure out where the future of reporting on the city’s school district goes from here. This newsletter will continue to exist, but its focus or emphasis may shift based on what people tell us they need.

What do you need to know about what’s going on in our schools? What types of stories should we be covering? If you were us, where would you take this publication from here?

We look forward to listening to you, forging ahead with the next iteration of Minneapolis Schools Voices, and continuing to work every day to keep people informed about what’s going on in our schools.

Sincerely,

Charlie Rybak and Melody Hoffmann

Minneapolis Voices