Long story short, I am putting down the Dennis investigation and School District coverage to focus on website updates, 2024 election-related work, and cataloguing of local government and political groups.
In June, after the Dennis Lab Schools were closed, I began covering the Decatur Public School District & investigating circumstances surrounding the school closures & the history of the buildings.
This work was extensive and used up a lot of time I had planned to spend developing website updates. This work is far from complete, but I'm unlikely to pursue it much further.
The last 3 weeks or so, I've been suffering from severe burnout and depression. During this time, I've been unable to perform most of my duties and have mostly worked on website updates, as much as I've been able. I am recovering, but I still need to move on from Dennis, due to the upcoming 2024 election.
Here's an overview of my tentative plans for the future:
- Update the website
- Publish all FOIAs I've submitted so far
- Write a retrospective on Dennis, recapping everything I know, and some of the leads I failed to follow.
- Prepare and present policy proposals related to transparency
- Submit Requests for Review to the Public Access Counselor for some FOIAs that I believe were not adequately fulfilled.
- Catalogue local government and political groups
- Catalogue & interview candidates for 2024
- Seek funding, incorporate Decatur Vote, and address other business needs
My priorities going forward are the website updates, cataloguing of local government, 2024 election coverage, and business needs, so the other items may not be completed.
I'm sorry I haven't provided new coverage or updates recently. I'm sorry that I'm not seeing the Dennis investigation through to its completion.
Thank you for reading. In the next few weeks, I will be mainly focused on the website updates, and will publish very few, if any articles.
If you have any questions, you can email me at reed@decaturvote.com, Contact Me Online, or message or comment on the @DecaturVote Facebook.