I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge those readers who took time out of their busy day to thank us for our package of stories today on the travel practices of Nashua Superintendent of Schools Julia Earl.

As you can imagine, it's much more common for readers to call or e-mail a newspaper to complain about something than to praise it for a job well done. That's human nature and certainly something that newspaper editors learn very quickly upon entering this wonderful profession.

That's why it was so rewarding to hear from readers today who clearly felt the amount of time and effort that went into compiling today's stories were worth it.

Here's a quick sampling of early feedback to the newsroom:

• From a caller: " ... that article on Julia Earl is one of the best and most complete articles I've ever read in The Telegraph."
• Another caller, who identified herself as a subscriber for many years, said she just had to call and thank us for the story, which she found informative and helped her to put the issue into perspective. She also expressed her appreciation for all the research that went into the articles.
• An e-mailer: "This is truly a great investigative story about the new school superintendent."
• And finally, from another e-mailer: "I wanted to just send you a quick note congratulating you and your staff for a great article on the travel expenses of Julia Earl. Those are exactly the type of stories that a newspaper like the Telegraph should be following."

Given that we have made investigative or watchdog journalism a priority here of late -- see my previous blog item of May 24 -- I find these comments particularly gratifying. While I am personally convinced that this type of journalism is absolutely essential to the future health of community newspapers, it's still nice to hear that there are readers out there who share my sentiments.

Still, I want to be clear that we don't take this kind of responsibility lightly. These are precisely the kind of stories that can have a dramatic impact on the professional and personal lives of people living and working in our community.

In this case, the question was pretty simple: Do our readers have a right to know that the current superintendent of schools -- whoever he or she might be -- has spent more than $8,000 on at least seven trips outside the state during her first nine months on the job? (And that the board of education apparently has been exercising little or no oversight on her travel schedule.)

Obviously, we felt the answer to that question was "yes."

And from what we hear, it's nice to know some of you felt the same way.