Returning to the Scene … and Finding It Inhospitable

My View

My retirement from the superintendency in California officially began on July 16, 2004. I almost immediately started consulting and working some part-time jobs. My wife told me I failed retirement and should give up and go back to work.

I moved into a full-time professorship at the University of Arkansas, where after seven years and earning tenure, fate brought me back to the superintendency. The local school district in Fayetteville, Ark., was seeking a new superintendent and their search was hitting some speed bumps. Without detailing the crazy series of ensuing events, I found myself accepting the superintendency for one year, which turned into two years.

I had no concerns about currency because for the previous seven years I was an associate professor and current in my field.  I was confident I’d seen everything in my 17 years as a superintendent. This job should be a cinch. I couldn’t have been more wrong or naive.

Distributing Untruths

I got through the first three months and felt like everything was wired. Then I discovered the far-reaching power of Facebook. I had no idea how social media has changed the landscape.

In September, I got a call from a first-year junior high assistant principal. She told me a 13-year-old student wore a T-shirt to school that said “Virginity Rocks” on the front and “I’m loving my Husband and I haven’t even Married Him!” on the back. The assistant principal felt, given the nature of junior high kids and her knowledge of the student body, the shirt would be disruptive. We talked briefly about the finer elements of the Tinker case governing student free speech, and I hung up.

The assistant principal spoke to the student, who calmly changed her shirt to avoid any disruption. That afternoon the girl’s mother posted on Facebook that her daughter was asked to take off a shirt promoting virginity. That’s when I discovered the meaning of something “going viral.” The local TV stations picked up the story as did CNN and other major networks. Mom and daughter were interviewed, and it is an understatement to say that mom did not support the school.

The Right Wing News (yes there is such a publication) reported that anything “that fosters wholesomeness and traditional values is anathema in Liberal infested public schools.” Fox News captured the mother on camera claiming, “Why is it such a bad thing to talk about virginity when they’re handing out condoms and girls are pregnant? It blows my mind.” Another news organization reported we hand out condoms to 5th graders. In fact, we do not distribute condoms to anyone, but in cyber-world, the facts are not a high priority. (For full disclosure, if you Google “Virginity Rocks Arkansas,” you can enjoy an even greater laugh at my expense.)

An Ugly Nature

I fielded phone calls from Maine to Florida to California. I ultimately had my incoming calls completely screened, but I could not stop the torrent of e-mails and unflattering letters. I was told what a horrible human being I was and that I would “rot in hell.” I was accused of promoting every type of sex imaginable. As a Sunday school teacher who is active in his church, I was astounded by the unfounded personal attacks made in the name of God.

In the “old days,” it took a while for rumors to spread and even though that was frustrating, the rumors usually had some basis in fact. Because social media is almost instantaneous, the new electronic rumor mill is amazingly inaccurate and has a mean-spirited and ugly nature.

I now know how to monitor Facebook to see what’s trending and what is being said about our schools. We even installed filtering software to monitor Facebook, Twitter and every other electronic chat system imaginable. We tried to stay ahead of rumors and to address them quickly so they wouldn’t go viral.

What did I learn most in my return to the superintendency? I’ve discovered I couldn’t wait to retire again and cancel my Facebook and other social media accounts. Ignorance is bliss.