Webb City R-7 officials are scrambling after X (Twitter) comments and retweets allegedly written by the district's newly hired assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction ranged from apparent approval of racial and religious bigotry to spreading conspiracy theories.
While Allison Pope's X feed has been shut down, screenshots from it circulated throughout Webb City R-7 buildings and the community since they were first discovered Thursday.
In an e-mail to district personnel, the current Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Brenten Byrd, who will become superintendent July 1, said Pope, who currently serves as superintendent of the Hurley R-1 School District, claims she was hacked, and he believes her.
It was brought to our attention yesterday, midday, that there were some strange and offensive tweets on Dr. Pope's Twitter account. We immediately contacted Dr. Pope who shut down her Twitter account and indicated she had been hacked.
Our tech department was notified and immediately started working with Dr. Pope and I to try to find out when and how.
Byrd provided a number of reasons why he believed Pope, including the background check of Pope's social media district officials reportedly did before Pope was hired.
There was nothing remotely close to the information posted on Twitter.
Byrd indicated there were tell-tale signs that Pope's account had been hacked including the following:
-"The account has the wrong birth date."
-When people first viewed the account, it showed "several followers and followings. When our tech department accessed the account, all followers and followings had been deleted. This is an indication of a hacked or a duplicated account."
-"The login activity came from multiple IP addresses across the state and in different states." Byrd said Pope was not in those locations on those particular days.
The screenshots that are circulating around the Webb City community include comments Pope allegedly left on other tweets, including one in which she showed her appreciation for a comment promoting the QAnon Adrenacrome conspiracy theory, which claims Democrats and Hollywood elite harvest children's blood for adrenacrome that can keep them young and they are responsible for child trafficking.
"Thank you for sharing that information and bringing evil to our attention."
In another comment, Pope's X account showed her criticizing U. S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe for refusing to honor the flag and national anthem of the United States, a sentiment with which many agreed, but the comment veered in a different direction.
And as a female, biological men should not compete against me. Doesn't make it a political issue."
The screenshots also indicated Pope approving inappropriate comments about the president, including one that referred to him as a "lying sack of sh*t."
One Pope comment on a screenshot had her asking, "Do you think Biden is actually in charge?"
The comments showed a disdain for former President Donald Trump's indictment. "Lets me know that they still see him as a threat. All the more reason to re-elect him."
In his letter to staff, Byrd criticized those who were sharing information about Pope's alleged tweets.
"Please let this serve as a reminder that if you see something that doesn't seem right or is derogatory in nature on a social media account, please do not gossip about it, but instead let an administrator know so we can immediately take action."
Some R-7 staff members are skeptical of Pope's claim that she was hacked and Byrd's reasons for backing that claim, noting that there were educational tweets mixed in with the racially and politically charged comments.
Another problem, staff members told the Turner Report was the deletion of a comment on Pope's Facebook page Thursday that made a joke out of killing President Biden.
In the post, Kevin Costner's character from the TV series Yellowstone says, "I need you to take Brandon to the train station." Brandon is a reference to President Biden, while taking someone to the train station is a reference to killing someone and disposing of the body.
On the post, Pope, or someone claiming to be Pope, said, "I couldn't help but laugh."
At this point, Byrd has made no mention of Pope's Facebook page being hacked.
67 comments:
Seems consistent with Webb last summer my son was playing baseball against a team of kids from Webb City and one of his teammates asked one of the Webb players when they say KAWC what does that mean? The Webb player said it stood for Killing Afghans With Class and laughed. It confused the kid who asked because he didn’t understand the reference
Xitter is one site: what about her FB page? What about her meme collection?
i WaS hAcKeD
She gotta go now
Bro she was totally hacked 🤣
So? Even if she wasn't hacked, what's the problem? I see nothing criminal or anything that endangers children. Everyone needs to get off the ridiculous narrative that the Klan, Proud Boys, Joplin Honkies and Trump supporters hanged an Afghani immigrant.
@3:39 I'll take "Things That Never Happened" for $500
I'm sure the highly qualified R-7 cyber experts will get things all figured out...it's not like it's rocket science!
On brand for Webb City tho
"The login activity came from multiple IP addresses across the state and in different states" Uh, yeah, that's how cell data carriers work. If you're on your mobile data right now google "Where am I" and I bet the location it shows isn't where you actually are. The locations change multiple times a day on a mobile device.
Is this their only evidence of a hack? The rest is all obtuse speculation.
Occam's razor, anyone?
Imagine defending the Klan 😬
Here are the problems with Dr. Byrd's Email,
Firstly, he indicated that her date of birth was wrong. This is completely irrelevant, her account was verified to be hers when she shut it down and then again when she gave the districts tech department access - per his email. People often put in erroneous birthdays when opening an account for many reasons.
Secondly, he indicated that when the tech department accessed the account, it no longer had followers and this was some type of sign that it was duplicated or hacked. Once again, not true. It was not a duplicated account, as she provided the sign in information to the tech department to access the account. The followers appeared and disappeared numerous times as the tech department sifted through her Twitter account. This means nothing. She also had shut the Twitter account down herself according to his email. Thus proving again it was her account and she had the sign in.
Also, if it was indeed 'hacked', a hacker would have changed the password so she couldn't access her account. This obviously did not happen. Also, when someone is trying to hack your account, you are notified on your corresponding email. This obviously didn't happen.
Third point he made was that the login activity came from multiple IP addressed across the state and in different states. When she was not in those locations. This one seriously made me laugh out loud when I read it. You see, with cellular networks and even internet providers, most times, the IP address shows up in alternate locations. I tested it myself before I composed this and I ask you to do the same. When I left my home in CJ and drove to Joplin and back I typed in "Where am I" at different times on my phone on google. It indicated I was in Michigan, then Texas, then Illinois, then Kansas City. That is common for your location to not be accurate as phone and internet providers bounce you around between towers and satellites when connecting. It is never accurate. So in the span of 40 minutes I was in 4 states!! Try it for yourself and see where you are right now! LOL
Fourth, he states that as part of the hiring process they vet social media and there was nothing remotely close to the information on Twitter. Well this one is just untrue. This information was out there. For the benefit of the doubt, we will say it isn't a lie and they just didn't find her twitter since they would have had to have her accurate and full name to search. If they did find it and they did actually scroll through it, then they would have seen this horrendous material, because it is all dated and has been there for years. Her responses to articles are dated. They all show several years of activity. No one had it out for her, she is her own worse enemy and didn't know you shouldn't like and post racist, antimuslim, antiimmigrant, homophobic, transphobic and just radically enraged rhetoric. Shame on her and shame on them for trying to cover this up so they don't have egg on their face for hiring her, rather than just admitting they didn't vet her.
You will see that many of the offensive posts were 'Replied' on by @AllisonMPope (her confirmed twitter account) with date stamps of when she did this reply activity. All of which were done over the past several months and years. Has her account been hacked for years? Was this a hack if her acct was replying to these hateful posts months and months back? Smells as a cover up.
Let me slow down and explain it one more time for those lacking education in Webb City. Last summer, my son played on one of those travel teams that play in those weekend showcase events that use fields all over the metro. It was the first or second weekend of June, my son’s team played a Webb City team. Believe it was a 16-under event. My son plays first, his teammate who played second, was from another high school in the region and had heard of Webb City but had never played against them. During a pitching change, the second baseman was talking to the Webb City runner on second base and asked him what the hashtag KAWC meant on social media. The Webb City base runner said “It means Kick Ass With Class but the baseball team changed it to Killing Afghanis With Class.” That is entire context of the story, when and where it occurred.
You forgot the part where he gaslighted staff members for “gossiping.” That was a nice touch
Byrd would have maintained my respect if he would have admitted his mistake. Instead, he bought in to her bull shit hacking lie and lost the respect of many good Webb City teachers. I fear for the future of our district, and that decisions such as these will lead to many good teachers deciding to teach elsewhere. It’s not too late to fix it!
Anyone with half a brain can look at her Twitter feed and see that she was indeed liking and commenting on those posts consistently for several years. Webb City district admin is either too stupid to realize it, or they don’t care.
It would be a truly epic self own for certain R-7 school administrators if she had actually posted the allegedly offensive material, and if the same fools that hired her then got goat roped into a fake and unworkable 'she got hacked' defense of the indefensible posts.
I have no idea what happened, but it should not take long, the truth will out.
The possible epic self own and the yet to be seen 'explanation' of how this could happen, plus the infamous nature of the alleged posts, plus Webb City's toxic history will all add to the viral spread of the story.
If there is one thing the internet truly loves it is racist homophobes getting caught in bogus denials that they posted the toxic content they got caught posting. Actual KKK content would be the cherry on the sundae. Idiots trying to sound like experts using technical explanations that don't make sense that 'prove' that hackers did the bad thing always maximizes the lulz.
Folks - this woman literally believes that politicians and wealthy people secretly harvest the blood of small children, and drink it to maintain youthfulness. She bought into the whackjob QAnon conspiracies and proudly paraded its content all over her Twitter for years. Webb City isn’t perfect but she doesn’t deserve to step foot anywhere near the school district, let alone serve in a leadership position and dictate district-wide policy. Give me a break!
What makes Dr. Byrd think Webb City teachers didn’t meticulously scroll through her Twitter feed and screenshot her vitriolic bull shit before they shut it down? The truth always prevails!
It’s a calculated decision on the district’s behalf - and a huge risk. If they withdraw their offer to Pope, no one really gets that upset because no one really knows her yet. If they continue to throw their support behind her, they will certainly alienate a large number of staff members who are currently calling bull shit.
@2:33 Now I'll take "Things That Never Happened" for $1000, C'MON DAILY DOUBLE!!!!
She needs to come out as trans or non binary to make this all go away.
Adrenochrome and all the qanon and wingnut bs. Was COmet Pizza in DC mentioned a few years ago when all the nutters were worked up about that? This sounds more like the typical Missouri Republican than it does mysterious malicious hackers.
"lying sack of sh*t."
Saving this quote for reuse just in case it turns out this wasn't the hackers posting all this right wing crazy on her accounts.
I really feel like the school's tech department has just bungled this one up. They so wanted to believe it was a hack from the beginning and so they have ignored all of the evidence to the contrary. It is all there. Not only her racist and homophobic comments, but her replies to those hate filled posts going back YEARS. All dated when she commented. All in alignment with what her facebook account looked like before she scrubbed it. This woman has shown her true MAGA conspiracy theory believing racist and homophobic self. I feel zero pity for her showing her true colors. What she should do now is admit to the fine folks of WC that this was only a job to pad her last few years before retirement. That she never planned on moving to the community or embracing it's values. Just admit who she really is, as shown by her twitter account when she thought no one was watching and the people she had following her (all 18 of them) didn't care. Or is she not so proud of herself and her hateful ideology now that light has been shown on her and her backwoods beliefs? And I say this, Come on over to WC so we can remind you everyday that we know who you truly are at the core of your very being. We can hold hands and sing kumbaya while you judge everyone around you. And then when you are comfortable enough to show yourself through the cracks, we can tell admin "I told you so".
Dr. Pope should come out of her MAGA closet and save the Webb City admin and IT team from this embarrassing situation. They are turning on their own staff and students trying to prove a hack that didn't happen. If she was hacked, the burden of proof is on her.
I guess Webb City is trying to save money since she's already been approved by the board and offered a contract. They either have to buy her out or welcome her with guarded arms. Either way, the integrity of WC admin has taken a hit.
The FBI - should handle this Investigation since it has derogatory, racial, and hate remarks, and it may have occurred across state lines - so the Truth comes out.
If she is Guilty - She should never work for another School District or in any Classroom again.
No matter what you Think or Perceive is Your Opinion - KEEP IT TO YOURSELF - All you Idiots that Post on Social Media - So you have get your 15-Seconds of Fame - Will end up getting what you Deserve.
Everyone calm down. I'm here to confess.
Yes, it's me, the hacker.
But I'm not only a hacker, I'm also a powerful psychic who can see into the future.
It's true.
I decided to use my abilities to carefully plan this attack on the completely innocent and angelic, Allison Pope. I used my extraordinary powers to spend years carefully crafting my plans against this small town Missouri educational administrator. I expertly mimicked both her political views and writing style to produce my masterpiece, her hacked Twitter page.
It was all leading up to this moment. The big reveal, when she accepted her job at Webb City, that I decided to put all my hacker/psychic cards on the table to ruin her career.
You think my story doesn't sound believable?
"I cannot possibly think of another rational explanation for this entire situation"
-Dr. Byrd, probably.
🤣🤣
This situation is pure comedy
Calm down junior
Does Webb City R-7 have a social media policy for current employees and new hires?
Is there any policy that covers what happens if social media posts by current or potential emoployees are discovered or reported to management?
Do potential R-7 hires need to provide the account names on their social media accounts so that R-7 can do some due diligence before hiring a problem?
I'm starting to think that R-7 is in a FAFO situation, and is deeply in both the FA and Finding Out stages at the same time.
Oh wait- there's apparently now a confession from the hacker?
THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING!!!
tHeY sAy iT wAs A HacK?
dO tHeY sUsPEcT iT wAs hIlLaRy aND tHe dEeP sTatE dOIng tHe haCK?
eVErY fAMily vALuEs vOtEr tHaT dOeS tHEiR oWn rEseArCh iSnTEaD oF fOllOwInG tHe EM ESS EM lIke tHe sHeePle do kNowS aLOt oF tHInGs.
iT wAs pRoBaBLy eIthEr tHem oR tHe bUsLoadS oF aNTifa aNd BLM oN tHeIr wAy hOMe fRoM tHeiR jAnUAry 6 tOuRiSt tOUrs oF tHe cApItOl iN dEE cEE wHaT dID iT!
Unless it's a criminal threat, The FBI shouldn't have anything to do with it. As much as you libs would love to put people in jail for expressing opinions you don't agree with, believe it or not, it's still not against the law yet.
Almost everyone knows someone whose Facebook account has been hacked, urging others not to accept messages or any other content from them. Have you ever experienced a break-in at your home, or perhaps in your car? It's a violation of the worst kind. It is this same feeling of being violated when someone maliciously uses your account to harm others without facing any consequences themselves. It's truly regrettable that instead of seizing this moment to commend the staff for their defense of the hacked individual, it's being used as an opportunity to criticize them. It's disheartening to witness how easily people are quick to judge without considering the possibility of foul play. It's crucial to differentiate between the actions of hackers and the values of the entity they targeted. Webb City is one of the best districts in MO, the students and staff are fantastic. The greatness of the district and all the positives surrounding Webb City should be your focus.
Anybody who knows or has worked for Dr. Pope knows this is clearly a hack job.
She should demand trial by combat!
So why exactly is the WC Tech Department spending all of their time trying to prove that a new hire was hacked, versus her current district doing this? Isn't that a waste of district resources? Shouldn't she be the one that has to show it was a hack rather than the obvious answer that she made those comments on her own Twitter account? I mean she isn't employed by WC until this summer right? Maybe the tech department should spend their time trying to keep the internet working and helping teachers and kids with their aging laptops. If she is going to be this needy before she even starts, I can't imagine how it will be when she actually gets an office.
Don't read much on here anymore but I do drop in occasionally. And, it never disappoints...lol. The sheer idiocy of these comments just lowered my IQ by 3 points just reading them. From people calling on the FBI to investigate a tweet (bahaha) to the clown who posted lowbrow jibberish at 9:28...I just can't even....
So, I have no idea who this lady is but I have a real question for anyone willing to answer. For all of you out there who believe someone should be fired based on their beliefs, are you okay when the needle points back at you for your beliefs and how it should impact your job? Are some of you on here commenting, the same ones that side with the teacher when they are making porn on their only fans page? I mean that's all I heard a few months ago right? Leave the poor girl alone you said, pay her more you said...do we no longer have any morals or family values in this country? What kind of people advocate for a teacher to make porn but want an administrator fired for tweeting personal beliefs...even if I don't necessarily agree with them?
I see nothing wrong with the tweets, we have this thing called the First Amendment.
The First Amendment doesn’t care about your feelings. If anyone is offended toughen up snowflakes it will be ok.
In the title of the article it says she claims she didn't make the tweets. This whole discussion is about whether or not it was a hack and Webb's response to the situation.
I think everyone can see the hack story doesn't hold up, so the "defenders" of Pope here are now talking about free speech. She could have argued that point, but she said she was hacked.
Ok fine, she has the right to free speech, why did she lie and say she was hacked?
It is a problem because she is and will be in a position that works with children of all colors and ethnic backgrounds. She will be responsible for the curriculum that our children are taught. The school district should have taken a different stance. It is disappointing that they tried to cover it up (poorly at that), instead of doing the right thing. The children and staff of Webb City deserve an administration that cares about all of them without prejudice.
Right wingers are all into 'free speech' until and unless the teachers want to teach things they don't want their kids to hear about.
Such as:
The Civil war was about slavery, the confederate states seceded so they could keep their slave ecomomy and slaves.
The shoeless johnny rebs and the traitorous south got their butternut clad @$$es whipped like mules, it just took a little while and a good naval blockade.
Those stars and bars do run, they ran real fast all across and around the South East to get aaway from Sherman's March etc.
I'm a right winger, I love hearing the story about how mad the democrats got when we took away their slaves. They even started their own little club with white hats and stuff. After that, they used states rights to enact Jim Crow laws which we had to do away with via the civil rights act. Joe Biden's mentor Robert Byrd tried to fillibuster it, but we still won. Years later ol Joe would eulogize Mr. Byrd at his funeral. Good times.
You are correct, we all know someone who has had their Facebook hacked. Not Twitter lol. And this isn’t how those hacks play out. Passwords are changed and then they start phishing for information for their friends list. Not in this case. In this case she claims that all of her racist and horrible content was posted by someone else for years. While being mixed in with educational posts and pics of her family at Orlando. Righttttt that’s how hackers work. Bologne has a first name and it is Allison.
Anonymous 5:29 AM - It never disappoints me How Stupid and Idiotic some Responses are and - the shear Idiocy of your Comments - I would say your IQ is definitely several points below par...
Yes the FBI - Investigates Hacks / Cyber Crimes, Yes the FBI - Investigates Hate Crimes and Fraud, Especially after the latest events at Webb City School with the Bullying and Death of an Afghan Student - and the So-Called Hack having these Derogatory / Hate Remarks.
Please Read and Learn Something - - They Can Investigate and Charge - Whether they are called in or requested is a different story.
Here is a Missouri Case that happened in 2022 - that was handled by the FBI.
Missouri man pleads guilty to federal hate crime in attempted murder of teen, who was shot 8 times because of sexual orientation.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dave Ketchmark with the Western District of Missouri and Trial Attorneys Shan Patel and Eric Peffley of the Civil Rights
Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, and the FBI.
The FBI even Advertises, Promotes, and Encourages their Participation in any type of Hate Crimes - With the Facebook Posts - Containing - Racist and Anti-Muslim Remarks - this is what they do...
Report Hate Crimes to the FBI
Hate crimes are not only an attack on the victim—they are meant to threaten and intimidate an entire community. Preventing hate crimes is a top priority within the FBI. If you believe you are a victim or a witness of a hate crime, report it to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.
Not to be outdone, you right wingers now espouse the separation, detention and mass deportation of infants and small children from their parents at the border for the asinine excuse of detering border crossing. You right wing deplorables are solely responsible for untold lifelong trauma and mental illness to these children and families. You right wingers are an abomination to humanity alongside Hamas, Isis, the current Jewish leadership, and the nazi party.
What part of illegal do you not understand?
Hate crimes what a bunch of sheeeet. Feeling crimes 🤣
Nice Strawman. Pathetic. I'll bite though. No one has a right to come here illegally. Period. I would welcome any and all immigrants who go through the proper channels. If their first act is to break the law, they don't deserve what they seek.
Unless they are direct criminal threats, they are not crimes. Retweeting op-ed bs stories is not tantamount to attempted murder.
Nazis are afraid of hate crime laws too
"No one has a right to come here illegally. Period."
I'm glad you agree that we need to deport all these descendants of European colonizers and return this land to it's original inhabitants.
5:04: Calm down there scooter...
What an overly dramatic Karen you must be!? You certainly aren't the sharpest little one are you Einstein? If you think the FBI runs and investigates every twitter hack, then you really are the dumbest SOB in this post. So, reposting a meme or op-ed piece is now a crime in your world? Everything is a hate crime? Anything that hurts your feelings is a federal offense? ONLY if a crime is committed or direct threats are MADE and not implied. You really should do a little but of research before talking out your a$$.
Sir, it is clear that the hack doesn’t hold true. There are bigger issues now. One of those issues is about the discriminatory views of Pope herself as she will now be in charge of a much larger and more diverse population of staff and students than she currently is in Hurley, Missouri. The second issue is the leadership style of how this situation was handled. Doubling-down, strong-arming, and shaming are not tactics that smack of humility or understanding. This raises a red flag because it is indicative of how the new leadership will affect staff, students, and the community. This could have been handled with servant leadership instead of authoritarianism. It is very loud that the current acting superintendent of Webb City R-7 hasn’t touched this on his way out. Other respected voices have also been quiet, and that hasty email implicated all of them, unfortunately. Quite simply, it’s starting off on the wrong foot.
Neither of these issues point to what’s best for administrators, teachers, or staff, and they certainly don’t point to what’s best for kids.
There are ways to repair broken trust, but they require humility.
You can't equate traveling here with nothing and building the greatest society in history with walking across the border to get free welfare and Healthcare.
Why is the mainstream news not covering this? Why are there no protesters outside of the school's central office? Why is this article not on page 1? Come on people, this is important. We have a new administrator who thinks it is ok to attack Muslims and immigrants and trans people and anyone who she deems lesser than her on her Twitter account. She can post what she wants, but she needs to be held to account for those postings. If the school district refuses to hold her to account, then the public needs to. And the school owes us all an answer as to why they think it is okay to have this woman in a leadership role. Dr. Byrd needs to be held accountable for his decision to hire a hate monger. Free speech has it's limits. And when a Muslim immigrant child decided to take his own life in this district because he didn't feel like he fit in, only a few short months ago, you don't place someone with these views in this position. Especially when you know there is absolutely no proof that she didn't post these things herself on her personal twitter that she had the password and sign in information for on the day they reached out to her. Hate is hate is hate... and it is not okay
Pretty sure all the lawyers on both sides are working overtime on this one..
Cha-ching $$$$ Cha-ching.
Hey 504, I cut and pasted this just for you!: 504 presents: "THE DIATRIBE" for your reading displeasure. Filled with half cocked opinions and frivolous statements, you'll need your antacids and beano after consuming, and in all likelihood, straining, your abdomen hurling this culinary disaster. Stay tuned, you can be assured of more gastrointestinal humiliation and discomfort from 504 shortly!
The local media is busy covering the new Popeyes in Webb City, no more reporters left for the real news.
They probably got gift certificates to go with the press releases...food coma?
This ain't the greatest society in history by a damn sight
Even if true, how would that reflect on an entire community? If you don’t want to be called racist because someone from your community makes a racist comment why are you implying this hearsay comment is a representation of the entire community and school district?
Snowflakes,Feelings police are everywhere
Bunch of liberal sissy’s
It is obvious at this point that the district does not care that there is plenty of evidence proving this was not a hack. They do not care that she commented and liked racist and homophobic and transphobic posts. That should make everyone take pause. The accounts reposts were disgusting and offensive, but ‘nothing to see here’… just get in line and believe what we tell you. Period
But you would celebrate her if she was pro trans pro anti white anti American etc
Why is that not offensive? We all have opinions it’s fine if we don’t agree, it should just end there.
I think it is time for a good old protest, complete with signs and chants..... they may not care until they see there are faces to the outrage over this woman's disgusting posts. I am in, let me know if you are too.
@6:32 You'll find the anti-white, anti-America party to be incredibly small.
Pro-trans is being pro human. Stop being gross.
I can't believe this is not getting more traction with the news. This should be top story until it is resolved. Headline should read 'Blatant Racist Hired to Lead Instruction At Public Institution'.
Webb City leads the way once again... just for the wrong reasons
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