I'm watching with interest the unfolding discussion.

There's bound to be fallout from the recent stabbing incident at John Tyler High School.

Among media types, TISD has had a reputation for stone-walling.

As a by-stander, I thought the administration did a pretty good job of handling a crisis. I sure wouldn't want to be in their shoes for those press conferences.

And Randy Reid took questions for the press; that was pretty brave, I thought.

I'm just a writer - a freelancer - not a reporter. So, I'm getting my news the same way every- body else does, trusting our free press to do the tough job of finding people who will go on record and tell the rest of the story.

The unglamorous, yucky parts that don't necessarily reflect well on the TISD administration or elected school board members.

People have been voting with their pocketbooks for about 20 years, withdrawing their kiddoes from area public schools and placing them in private and homeschools. And moving to the smaller country towns immediately outside of Tyler. That's an important part of this story affecting all of East Texas.

The TISD has done a good job of implementing innovative programs and wooing people back to public education.

Our state and federal legislatures have done their part by insisting on accountability, even if TAKS testing tends to be misguided in some ways.

Now will be a time for much discussion. Some of it won't be nice. Probably downright ugly.

In the thick of it will be our free press.

I hope one thing that comes out of the discussion will be better access for the media to the stories coming out of the TISD. Probably a shift of philosophy will be necessary from the top.

"The superintendent (Dr. Randy Reid) said the district was already working on plans to improve `not only the situation there (at John Tyler) but people's perception of the situation, '" according to the September 24th report in the Tyler Paper.

Really?

One perception I'm picking up on is that teachers don't feel safe at John Tyler. I guess that goes without saying now. But try to find one that will go on record as saying so even now.

Hmm.

If nobody is willing to talk, problems won't be identified. Brains available to come up with solutions will be limited to the handful of folks "in the know."

Is that what we really want as a community? Thank God for the free press.

Cathy Krafve is a columnist for the Chandler & Brownsboro Statesman.