Commentary: Webb City administrators following same approach with Pope that they did with Rezwan Kohistani

 

Webb City R-7 Administration's handling of the controversy surrounding racist, anti-Muslim, conspiracy theory promoting hate-filled tweets that allegedly received likes or positive comments from recently hired assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction Allison Pope are reminiscent of actions the administration took following the May 5, 2022 suicide of 14-year-old high school freshman Rezwan Kohistani.

Current Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Brenten Byrd, who will become superintendent July 1, has placed blame for the Pope fiasco on district teachers.

From the Webb City Sentinel:

Byrd says the matter of the offensive tweets and retweets on X (formerly Twitter) came to light when “some of our staff” shared them with Randy Turner, of The Turner Report website.

In the Sentinel article and in the earlier message Byrd sent to staff members, he made it clear that the problem was not the hate-filled posts, but the people who brought them to light. And in this case, he also shared misinformation with the Sentinel since screenshots of the tweets were circulating through the community well before anything was posted on the Turner Report.

As noted in the March 14 Turner Report, Byrd appears to have made it known how he wanted the investigation into the tweets to turn out, judging from the message he sent to staff members, which indicated that after Pope told him her Twitter account had been hacked, he took immediate action.

Our tech department was notified and immediately started working with Dr. Pope and I to try to find out when and how.

Though Tony Rossetti was in charge and not Byrd when Rezwan Kohistani, an Afghan refugee and Muslim, committed suicide, after allegedly enduring bullying during his one year at the high school, R-7 administration used another scapegoat to avoid dealing with the situation.

They blamed it on the media.

The district did not release any information about the teen's death until 11 days after it happened when a statement was placed on the district Facebook page.

The district has been asked by local media to provide information regarding the events that took place on May 5th that resulted in the death of one of our students.

From the May 22, 2022 Turner Report:

Following that opening, which was designed to foster the thought that district officials were being forced to violate the privacy of the boy's family because they were being hounded by the media, not much was revealed.

The Webb City School District responded by contacting local authorities, emergency personnel, and followed the District’s Crisis Plan.

As part of the District’s Crisis Plan, Administration met with the parents’ representative on May 5th before releasing any information to staff and students.

Counselors have been provided for staff and students who may need additional support. This is an ongoing investigation, and the district has and will continue to fully cooperate with the local authorities throughout the process.

At that time, the community was waiting for the district to address the boy's suicide. The media was doing its job responsibly. Still, R-7 Administration made it appear that the media was the villain. They also gave the impression they had remained silent to follow the wishes of the boy's family and they were following standard procedure.

The only problem with those assertions is that the family was looking for answers and they were not following standard procedure.

Many area school districts, unfortunately, have had to deal with the deaths of students, many by suicide. Almost always, a message is posted on Facebook that day, without mentioning the name of the student, which lets parents and students know what is being done and keeps them informed without being intrusive.

On February 28, 2019, the Webb City R-7 District was faced with such a situation when another 14-year-old freshman died the same way Rezwan Kohistanti did, suicide by hanging.

Later that day, district officials posted the following statement:

"We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of one of our Webb City students. Our thoughts are with the student's family and friends during this most difficult time."

That's the way it's usually done. 

Perhaps the district's policy changed.

Or perhaps when situations become uncomfortable for the officials, the policy changes and becomes "find a scapegoat and sweep it under the rug."

No bullying took place at Webb City High School in 2022.

Allison Pope was hacked in 2017, 2018, 2019, well you get the picture.

If Allison Pope was hacked, the approach Brenten Byrd has taken has made it almost impossible for anyone to believe it.

A better approach might have been to simply say, "We are concerned about this. We do not approve of these tweets. Dr. Pope says she was hacked, and we ask that you not rush to judgment. We are conducting a thorough investigation."

That might not have changed anyone's beliefs, but it sure would have been better than letting your teachers and staff know how quickly you are willing to throw them under the bus.