from the learning-opportunity dept

It ought to function no shock that college district superintendents should not in some way universally superb individuals. Like any inhabitants, there shall be good ones and unhealthy ones. All of that being stated, it appears that evidently the COVID-19 pandemic has been significantly good at highlighting simply how unhealthy on the job, to not point out at public relations, some superintendents will be. The most helpful instance of this got here from Georgia, the place a college district suspended, then un-suspended, college students for posting footage of simply how badly their faculties had been failing at managing bringing college students again throughout the pandemic.

But a newer instance involves us from — checks notes — huh, my hometown of Elmhurst, Illinois. Dave Moyer, the superintendent for the Elmhurst public faculties, kicked up a local shit-storm for himself a few weeks in the past when he determined to have an trade with a revered instructor in his district over the usage of masks by lecturers.

Last week, District 205 know-how instructor Jennifer Leban tweeted, “Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I feel like parents would much rather have teachers talking to students via Zoom WITHOUT masks on instead of WITH… Seems like an obvious choice?”

Moyer responded, “Then take your mask off.”

But Leban, a 2020 Illinois Teacher of the Year finalist, stated she doesn’t have her personal room, so state laws bar her from taking off her masks.

For context, whereas new case counts have been dropping throughout a lot of the nation, the identical will not be true for the Midwest. Here in Illinois particularly, new circumstances have been on the rise since July, together with a panoramic day mere weeks after Moyer’s suggestion {that a} instructor take away her masks the place the state noticed almost six thousand new circumstances get reported. Leban, by the way in which, is immunocompromised, making Moyer’s suggestion that she merely take away her masks all of the extra idiotic. She offered the district with a health care provider’s word that beneficial she get a distant placement, for which there are some slots within the district, however that request was denied with out clarification.

Others, in fact, noticed the Twitter trade as effectively.

In the Twitter dialogue, Kim Gwizdala, an English instructor from Glenbard West High School, stated it was “absolutely wild to me that your own superintendent would suggest a thing when it is in direct violation with health guidelines and science.”

Moyer took exception to that remark.

“Excuse me. The attorneys have indicated that the interpretation from the State is as follows: Teachers can take their mask off when they are in their rooms by themselves facilitating remote learning. Get your facts straight before you pontificate.”

To Leban, he wrote, “Your entire media center isn’t good enough? OK then.”

Shortly after that, for causes that needs to be apparent, Moyer deleted a number of of these tweets. No public apology got here, nonetheless. Also, as mother and father started leaping into the dialog, Moyer chose to block them on Twitter, although his account is that of the varsity district’s web site, not a private account. It’s price noting right here that the courts lately dominated that Donald Trump, as a public official, couldn’t block the general public from his official account as a result of his management over the account and his standing as a public official made that particular house a public discussion board. Why Moyer’s account, tied to the district’s web site, needs to be any completely different is anybody’s guess.

In a Twitter dialogue final week about an Elmhurst instructor’s place on masks, Alicia Duell, the director of know-how and data companies at Wheeling School District 21, stated Moyer blocked her from his Twitter account. An Elmhurst resident, Duell famous Moyer was the superintendent of her youngsters’s faculty district.

Meanwhile, an Elmhurst resident emailed Patch over the weekend that she, too, had been banned from the superintendent’s account.

Which brings us to the current, the place the general public has taken notice of Moyer’s behavior at a current board assembly and is voicing their complaints.

Last Monday, a lot of written feedback had been learn throughout the public remark portion of the assembly, together with these important of Moyer. Eileen Espinosa, an area resident who as soon as served on a college council in Chicago, stated she has “extended grace” to Moyer throughout the pandemic, however may not stay silent.

“His utter lack of leadership is overwhelming and you’re ignoring it is no longer acceptable,” Espinosa stated to the board in her feedback. “Dr. Moyer’s inability to send communications that help the community to come together in the spring and throughout the summer and into the school year are a repeated reminder that he does not lead our district. He continues to air his grievances and personal opinions on social media.”

There are extra, as effectively. The final lesson right here is in simply how badly Moyer dealt with this at each step. One-liners to immunocompromised lecturers advising them to take of their masks in opposition to each state laws and customary sense is an apparent misstep. Doubling down with sarcasm and snark when referred to as on it, all of the extra so. Deleting these tweets and considering this could all go away, relatively than merely apologizing, put this on the tee on the Streisand National Open. Going on a parent-Twitter-blocking spree to attempt to stifle dissent hit the ball proper in the midst of the green. And the refusal to publicly remark so far on the matter made the Streisand crowd go wild.

When requested for remark about his deleted tweets late final month, Moyer didn’t straight reply. In an e mail, he stated his public messages needs to be interpreted as looking for “a balance between safety for all and creating the healthiest learning environment for students. It is time for all of us to move beyond the negativity and keep the focus where it belongs.”

Right now the main focus may be on whether or not Moyer is one of the best particular person to be main a college district throughout a pandemic in a state that’s struggling below a surge of the virus.

Filed Under: blocks, covid, dave moyer, distance learning, elmhurst, illinois, jennifer leban, masks, superintendent

Companies: twitter