Losing your job over a tweet?
Frederick County Public Schools and the Board of Education need a sense of humor. After suffering an inordinate amount of sanctimonious criticism by humorless tweeters, FCPS social media guru Katie Nash appears to have gotten the pink slip from the powers that be. It seems they prefer a robot tweeting for them and not an actual human being.
If you missed the tempest in a teapot story last week, an FCPS student tweeted, imploring FCPS to cancel school for the predicted snowfall. He unfortunately misspelled tomorrow, which prompted Nash to quip that he needs to go to school to learn to spell tomorrow.
That was funny. And the kid wasn’t bothered. He told her so in another tweet. But that didn’t stop the Gladys Kravitizes of the world, including former Frederick News Post editorial writer Cliff Cumber, from clutching their collective pearls in a fit of moral superiority. Oh the children! The poor abused children! Whatever will happen to this poor dumb kid who was publicly shamed, taken to the digital woodshed by the big, bad Katie Nash?? And that sort of silliness.
#FreeKatie became a thing. Supporters were just as numerous as the detractors. The local TV station did a story about it. Then it blew over. Until it blew up. Nash posted on her Facebook in response to condolences on losing her job that she at least knows more about the makeup of the Board of Education after her experience.
It’s kind of ironic in this day and age, where everyone is free to be you and meing all over the internet, that revealing an ounce of personality on behalf of an institution, can get you the ax.
In actuality, it was a fresh breeze in a stuffy room. Nash's interaction with the FCPS student was honest, human and humorous. Why was she punished for it?
