What do public sector bloggers worry about?

Guess!

Check out this comment to the Jan. 3 Q & A with blogging school board member Don Scott:

"As a school board member in a neighboring school district (Harrison, NY) I find Don's posts topical and interesting. I'd be fearful of starting one in Harrison -- because the discourse in my town tends towards the incendiary. Maybe when I'm off the board ..."

Fear. That's a theme heard regularly when Municipalist talks about blogging with those in the public sector. Stay tuned for more of this right here in the months ahead. We are hunting daily for examples of elected, appointed, employed and otherwise public bloggers who have found paths around these fears and are building community and seeing positive impact. And so here's a homework question: Is it necessary for public sector bloggers to be ... fearless?

Comments

[KLDude]

Fear has a lot to do with what people are willing to blog for the public to see. I am a somewhat regular poster in the comments area of Don Scott's KLBoardBuzz blog. I try to be as honest and forthcoming as I can in what I say, yet as someone who has an employment relationship with the school district, as well as being a resident and parent in the school district, I am afraid to use my real name. I am happy that Don lets me post under an alias, because otherwise I would just be a reader and not a poster.

The people in power (in the case of a school district, the superintendent and other administrators), have a tremendous influence on the careers of their employees, and while most of them are totally fair most of the time, this can not be a blanket statement about all school administrators. I have witnessed too many examples in my career of teachers who have had their careers (and lives) upended by the political needs of those in power.

Basically, a non-tenured teacher doesn't have a leg to stand on and the slightest little mistake can cause a non-tenured teacher to not be asked back the following year (hand in your letter of resignation or you will be terminated). Upset the wrong person -- be it an administrator, a board member, or a politically-connected parent and any non-tenured teacher will be gone. So honestly posting on a blog would be dangerous for a non-tenured teacher.

Superintendents and administrators can also make life very challenging for tenured teachers who "upset teh apple cart." Retribution can take the form of a change of class schedule, teaching assignment, or building assignment. Additionally, the superintendent has the power to cause a tenured teacher to lose coaching or extra-curricular assignments, department chair/coordinator positions, and other positions (chaperone, scoreboard operator, AIS support teacher, etc.) which all have a significant financial impact on the teacher.

In my many years of teaching, I have witnessed all of these things occur. Any teacher who values his/her employment would be wise to not blog or post on a website read by school officials and thanks to Google, any post under a real name can now easily be found. It is a known fact that some former and current board members read the KLBoardBuzz blog because they are frequent posters. And while the superintendent (nor the recently retired superintendent) has never posted, it would be a safe bet that they read the blog because it would be a disservice to the district if they did not take advantage of this opportunity to learn the thoughts of the people who care a lot about the school district and are willing to take the time to share their thoughts.

So I am happy and proud to post on Don's KLBoardBuzz blog, though I feel I must use an alias. I believe that a school board member, in an elected political position, must feel the same way. Being in power (school board member) gives you a position of leadership and as such you must be somewhat of a cheerleader for the organization/district. So I could see how it would be much easier for a former board member to post his/her thoughts than a current member.

[David]

The teacher's post is disappointing. I don't live in Don's school district -- but is there really a culture of feat there? If a teacher (regardless of tenure status) expressed an opinion on the blog -- that the district or board would seek retribution? This point actually goes to why our public school system is inherently dysfunctional. Unions instinctively view the labor/management construct in public schools as good versus evil -- and this really stymies the ability of school districts (taxpayers, pareents -- and yes -- teachers) from really making needed reforms to raise the bar for education for everybody.

This is an onion worth peeling.