Letter from the Editor: An apology to Ken Dias family and Clovis Unified

Clovis Roundup readers,

We would like to apologize for being hasty in our reporting on allegations made by a Clovis East student against ag teacher Ken Dias. Our original headline posted online and on social media, which has since been corrected, read “Clovis East teacher verbally attacks student after refusing to stand for flag salute.” We realize this headline implied Dias committed the act, when in fact this matter is still under investigation by Clovis Unified School District and Mr. Dias deserves due process as innocent until proven guilty.

We sincerely apologize to Dias, his family and Clovis Unified for the impression we gave our readers. We hold our school district in high regard and we did not mean to imply Dias is guilty. At this point, these are just allegations made that are under investigation and our original story was edited to simply report what the student said in her report. New information revealed to us by another student in the classroom, which tells a different story, is also reflected in our edited article. We will continue to update this story as more information comes to light.

As your local news source, we have a great responsibility to report the facts and though other media sources have sensationalized these allegations in their reporting, it is uncharacteristic of us to follow their lead. We would have been remiss not to follow up on this story, but acknowledge we were too hasty in our initial post. Though we may not always be the quickest, our small team is committed to providing the most thorough and accurate information and we hope the community can forgive us for our error in news judgment yesterday. We assure you we will be more mindful in our reporting on such issues in the future.

A native of Woodlake, Daniel Leon is a recent graduate of Fresno State with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism. Daniel served as Sports Editor at The Collegian, Fresno State’s student-run newspaper, prior to joining the Roundup. Got a story idea? Email him at editor@clovisroundup.com