‘Failure Factories’ reporters discuss Times’ series on failing schools in Pinellas

On Today’s Radioactivity, Host Rob Lorei speaks with Lisa Gartner and Michael LaForgia, two reporters who worked on the Tampa Bay Times investigative series “Failure Factories”, which chronicles the fallout from a 2007 decision by the Pinellas School Board to end school integration efforts. This led to the steady decline of 5 elementary schools in South Pinellas. They are now one of the worst performing schools in the state. Gartner and Laforgia discuss how the concentration of poverty and lack of resources and funding have hurt student achievement in these schools. The second part of the series will be published in the Times on Sunday.