I probably lost some of you with the term "on blast". Have you ever scrolled through your Facebook feed and found that one person that is complaining about school rules or playing time? Then there are the subsequent 47 supportive comments from their friends. I'm sure most of those Likes and comments are from people that really have no connection to the school but they feel good participating anyway. Typically the poster has not contacted the school, teacher or coach. They trade support from their online community for actual effort for their child's situation. That's what it means to be on blast, exposing a situation or information to everyone with the other party's knowledge or consent.
As a school administrator I have a strict rule about my Facebook page. I do not friend kids, parents or even my own staff. I simply believe that my personal life and my professional world should not mingle with each other. It keeps me and others from troubled situations. I use Twitter as a safe place to interact professionally with my parents, staff and kids. This arrangement definitely shields me from posts like the one I mentioned above. That doesn't keep me from hearing about them or seeing my non-school related friends engaging in the practice with their own schools. Never the less, I get to see this stuff no matter how hard I try.
So here is my advice for those parents that feel putting their school on blast is a reasonable option: grow up, call your school and try to fix what's broken. Your kids need to see you behave as a functional adult.
To the folks that read it and interact with it, you are part of the problem too. Please consider the following next time you see one of these posts:
- The person making the post is obviously biased and has not told a complete story or does not know the complete story.
- School employees cannot fight back. If we release student or staff information to the public, 99.9% of the time it is illegal. We are basically defenseless.
- For every like or comment you make, you are fueling this unhealthy behavior.
- The parent in question is most likely filling a personal psychological need rather than seeking justice for their child or the situation.
I can't say all school types feel the way I do, but before you vent on Facebook, just call me. If I cannot remedy your situation to a fair end or if I just fail you totally, I can live with getting knocked around on Facebook. However, you have to give us a chance. Often times the national news media casts a dark cloud on all public schools with stories of isolated incidents of poor decision making. This sets a tone for how all schools are perceived and it is just not fair. Give us a chance before you put us on blast.
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