From neighboring Frederick County, Katie Nash has achieved the proverbial 15 minutes of fame as a clever tweet and her subsequent firing have made international news.
If you have not heard the story, Nash was hired by Frederick County Public Schools to be their social media coordinator. On Jan. 5, with bad weather forecasted, a student posted on Twitter, "FCPS — close school tammarow PLEASE!"
From her FCPS account, Katie quippily replied, "But then how would you learn how to spell "tomorrow"? :)".
Several days later, Katie was instructed by her superiors to delete the tweets, which she did. A week later, she was fired from her position.
The worst of political correctness resulting in an absurd outcome.
Consider the medium. Twitter is the social media platform with the 140-character limitation. A quick perusal will show that often the short tweets are concise, pithy and frequently a little snarky. There are things like a clapback — a snappy comeback filled with attitude and sass or shade — talking trash and publicly criticizing, which are terms often associated with tweets. (Somewhere a hipster 19-year-old is rolling their eyes as this middle-aged white woman tries to use the modern vernacular and define the terms the cool kids use.)
In this context, the snide, sarcastic, sharp world of Twitter, Nash's response was barely able to register as disrespectful.
By all accounts I could find, the student —a high-school aged boy — was amused and did not perceive that the comment was bullying. The boy's father was quoted in the Frederick News-Post saying, "It was all in good fun. He caught some flak, but I was giving my son more flak than anything."
After the initial tweet, Nash, through the FCPS account clarified, "Know that I very much value you as a student & our back and forth here is not meant to shame or cause harm in any way." Both prior to and after the fateful tweet, Nash had exchanged tweets with other students in a playful and clever manner.
This brings me to my second major point.
Consider the source. I do not know Katie well, but I am acquainted with her. We are friends on Facebook and I can most heartily and emphatically state she is NOT a bully.
Nash is an advocate for the underdog, a political junkie, a mediator, a fence-mending, urban-gardening mom with two sweet young children of her own. She is a strong-willed, hard-working crusader for all that is right and good (here I will add, from her perspective, because I do not always agree with her causes) and admirable in the tenacity she applies to all she values.
Nash is not a bully. She thought she was doing her job, putting the "social" into her social media coordinator role. Taking a dry, robotic twitter feed that reported facts about the school system and spicing it up with a little cheeky banter.
She even added the international symbol of silliness, the "colon, close parentheses" smiley face that everyone knows means, "Just kidding."
The story continues to play out as petitions to rehire her are circulated with an outpouring of support. With two young children enrolled in Frederick County Public Schools, Katie has been gracious asking for people to continue to support the system.
FCPS has been criticized for their poor judgment. I am generally a big believer in ͞there are two sides to every story, but in this case, there is no reasonable explanation that justifies her termination.
Understandably, Nash no longer wants to work for the school system and, quite frankly, I do not blame her.
FCPS made a mistake. Katie Nash was good at her job. #freekatie
Karen Leatherwood writes from Eldersburg. Reach her at leatherwoodkarenm@gmail.com.
