GOLDEN —After 34 years, Jack Maher said goodbye to midnight alarm clocks and the daily grind of morning TV news. The man who created the first morning newscast in Denver was moving on.
But a loss for 9News has so far turned out to be a big gain for Jefferson County Public Schools, as Maher has spent the past six months building a YouTube channel to highlight some of the positive things happening at schools throughout the district.
A true one-man crew, Maher films, edits, takes photographs, does voice-overs and adds music to all his stories, which range from two to six minutes.
“My mission that I saw was to kind of ferret out the little stories and highlight them,” Maher said.
When he first came to Jeffco Schools in June, Maher wanted to create a TV channel but found it wasn’t feasible. YouTube was the next logical choice for him, so he created JPS TV, which now has 94 subscribers, 110 videos and more than 15,000 views.
Maher said there was a lot of negative news concerning the district and the school board in the news, and he was tasked with finding some positive stories.
And he’s found more stories than he can handle so far, polishing an average of three stories per week and also handling some more “newsy” videos such as the district’s annual report and some school board meetings.
“I’m a huge supporter of it,” Jeffco superintendent Dan McMinimee said. “That’s how people get information now.”
McMinimee added that the videos are a good example of how to tell a good story in a short amount time and make it compelling.
“It’s a great model for our kids,” he said.
Maher, who won four Emmy awards while a producer at 9News, along with dozens of other honors, launched the channel on Sept. 8 and has seen viewers from all 50 states and 37 countries. The target audience is students and families at Jeffco Schools as well as teachers, administrators and anyone else who is interested.
So far, the most-watched video is a six-minute clip about the grand from December, with more than .
But Maher’s favorites are the zany and the emotional stories.
“These stories for me are so tremendously uplifting and emotional at the same time,” he said.
He recounted a story from September about . The video was full of pirate music and Capt. Jack Sparrow references.
Another story shed some light on a “Whoville” event at Parmalee Elementary School to support the .
A year later, the school repeated its “Whoville” day where students dressed up like Dr. Seuss characters, but this time the young man was able to join the students and thank them for their support.
“There’s just so much good going on in the district that I don’t think gets out there,” Maher said.
While he isn’t sure how many other school districts produce anything like his reports, it’s becoming clear those outside the district are taking note.
“I think that kind of regular source of information is always valuable. I’m glad to see that the district is continuing the video program,” State Board of Education member Jane Goff said. “I just think it’s a great idea.”
Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or
