Brooke never leaves home without her audio recorder, and has a habit of rearranging her furniture. She can often be found photographing fire hydrants and interviewing strangers. Or in other people's kitchens. A graduate of Antioch University's World Classics program, she is interested in how thought moves through time and how life is a story we tell ourselves. Before venturing to grad school and a position with WYSO, she held the record for sheer column inches at the News, and was known as the reporter who was "fond of data."

• From Beirut to a bicycle village

  By Brooke BryanJune 3, 2010

  

  The Iwens are used to feeling the air move against their faces, and to these new villagers, the air in Yellow Springs has seemed sweet since the first encounter.

• School district seeks levy to ride out recession deficit

  By Brooke BryanApril 22, 2010

  A school tax levy is “a community thing,” according to organizers who are bringing Issue 5, an $8.7 mill renewal emergency levy, to the ballot on May 4.

• Basora top choice for superintendent

  By Brooke BryanApril 15, 2010

  

  Yellow Springs school board members will soon visit Wyoming Middle School in Cincinnati, the top performing school in the state — and the home school of superintendent finalist candidate Mario Basora, who was announced as the finalist at the Thursday, April 8, school board meeting.

• Schools support Rwanda grant

  By Brooke Bryan

  The laughter-filled April 8 school board meeting saw the approval of two new principals for village schools, the naming of the finalist candidate for the superintendent position, and the announcement of two new multi-age classrooms in the elementary school during the 2010–2011 school year.

• New principals for Mills Lawn and McKinney/YSHS

  By Brooke BryanApril 8, 2010

  

  At the April 8 Board of Education meeting, Interim Superintendent Tony Armocida said he is pleased to recommend candidates Matt Housh and Tim Krier to the board for approval for the positions of principals of Mills Lawn School and YSHS/McKinney, respectively. Click the title to read more.

• Final superintendent candidate visits

  By Brooke Bryan

  

  Mario Basora, the third candidate for the superintendent position in the Yellow Springs School District, presented elements of his life and work to the community at Mills Lawn on Wednesday evening. Basora — who is currently principal of Wyoming Middle School in Cincinnati, the state of Ohio’s top performing school — said it’s important to him that the community get a feel for who he is and how he thinks about education. First, he said, is his family. And he happened to bring them along.

• Neighborhood gardens grow community, savings

  By Brooke BryanApril 1, 2010

  Neighborhood gardens — shared plots for gardening with others near and within neighborhoods on Village-owned land — are new to Yellow Springs, and may be growing on land near you this year.

• Schools hire new treasurer

  By Brooke BryanMarch 18, 2010

  Yellow Springs Board of Education members unanimously voted to approve the hiring of a new treasurer for the Yellow Springs schools at the board’s March 11 meeting. Dawn Weller will begin service to the district on April 5, 2010, at an annual salary of $99,700 on a three-year contract. Weller comes to the district after 13 years as treasurer of the Greenon Local School District in Enon.

• Do housing costs affect diversity?

  By Brooke Bryan

  

  If local diversity can be measured by the number of African Americans who live within the geographical boundaries of Yellow Springs, the village has experienced three decades of decreasing diversity, and is likely wrapping up a fourth. Since 1970, the village has lost about 500 African-American residents, mirroring a larger regional trend.

• Fairy tale-come-true for YSHS playwright contest winners

  By Brooke BryanMarch 4, 2010

  

  What happens when Yellow Springs High School students are challenged to spin a new yarn from urban legends and fairy tales? The result, according to organizers of a regional high school playwriting challenge, is vivid characters that dare to leap out of insightful and witty scripts up and onto the stage.