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JCPS students write opinion pieces for New York Times

Students in teacher Molly Hall's class wrote their own opinion pieces, and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Jon Cherry took their pictures.
Credit: lamppost - stock.adobe.com

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Fourth-graders at a Jefferson County Public School were featured in Sunday's New York Times.

According to a press release, fourth-grade students at Johnsontown Road Elementary School spent two days learning the difference between reported writing and opinion writing from some of the New York Times' editors.

Students in teacher Molly Hall's class wrote their own opinion pieces, and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Jon Cherry took their pictures.

Several students had opinions about food: 9-year-old Deonte Menefield, Jr. wrote he wanted to have lunch earlier, 10-year-old Samuel Cortez wrote teachers shouldn't have to pay for their lunches while 9-year-old Railee Yarbrough wrote about how she wanted food, in general, to be free.

Rae Lynn Edwards, 9, wrote she wanted people off their phones at the dinner table.

Credit: Jefferson County Public Schools
Opinion page of Sunday's New York Times features JCPS students' opinions Sept. 25, 2022

"If we're all on our phones at dinner, we're not talking to each other," she wrote.

Savannah Atchison, 9, wrote about how people should be supportive because "some people don't treat others right if they're different."

"For example, if a boy wants to be more feminine than masculine, other boys should say, 'I support you, even if you are different,' instead of saying: 'Hey! Be more like other boys,'" Atchison wrote in the New York Times.

Peyton Pierce, 10, wrote he wanted all grades to have recess at the same time.

"Maybe kids have friends in other grades that they would like to see too," Pierce wrote.

Makinlee Armstrong, 10, wrote how she wanted middle schoolers and high schoolers to have access to playgrounds too.

"Instead of just going outside on breaks, kids should have something to do," Armstrong wrote.

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