My journalism career enabled me to cover many fascinating subjects and meet some extraordinary people over the course of nearly four decades … but these days I am being given the chance to watch an issue develop from conception to an electoral conclusion.
I am now a freelance reporter working for a newspaper in the city where my wife and I settled four years ago. My bosses at the Princeton (Texas) Herald have asked me to cover the development of an economic plan that likely will result in a bond issue election next May in this Collin County community.
The Princeton Independent School District formed a 49-member citizens committee that is examining how the district will deal with burgeoning student population growth. To be honest, I had never covered such an issue from the beginning, sitting at ringside as the committee hammers out the demographic, economic, taxing issues that await it.
To be utterly clear, I need to be careful that I do not “scoop” my bosses at the Herald by posting something on this blog that pre-dates the coverage I will provide for the newspaper. Still, this much has been published: the district is growing rapidly; a demographer has told the committee where the pace of growth is setting the pace; the committee has planned several other meetings prior to presenting its recommendation to the school board in late January.
This presents me with a serious challenge and a wonderful thrill to learn a great deal about this fascinating community. One thing I have learned already is that Princeton is among the fastest-growing cities in the fastest-growing county in Texas.
It excites me to be able to tell this city’s story to my neighbors and to others in this city who have a stake in the future of their public school system.