What's going on here

Talk about spin.

In today's Delaware Gazette, Mardy Hanlon-Stolte states that neither she nor Mindy Farry received any complaints about The Beacon articles, yet they both recently issued a waffling apology about those very same articles in an email newsletter sent to high school parents.

In her email, Farry states, "The Valentine’s Day issue of our school newspaper, The Beacon, has created some concern with our students and parents."

OK, was there no concern - Gazette - or was there concern - her email? This spin is getting to me.

The Gazette further reports that “(Scott) Davis said the district does not engage in a 'prior review' when it comes to school newspapers and the district has no plans to institute any such policy in coming weeks spurred by Fedako's concerns."

Yet Farry states in her letter, "Soon, we will begin the process of reviewing our student journalism ethics and criteria for reporting. As a part of that, we will ask a group of community, staff, students, and board members to share ideas and develop a framework for decision-making on these issues. We look forward to initiating this group within the next few weeks and look forward to your input."

What's up here? Can’t they at least get their stories straight?

So, is it no review - Davis - or review - Farry? You never can tell.

Funny, these same people wonder why I questioned, and continue to question, what goes on inside the district. As this incident proves, you have to continually question the district as you rarely get a straight answer.

One final point, in the Gazette, Hanlon-Stolte also states, "As a staff, we then select the topics for the issue based on value of information, opinion and entertainment." It would appear that she selected the topic. As I have been saying, this is not an issue of the students, it's an issue of the staff and administration.

Oh, yeah, still no teacher willing to state that this whole mess is simply wrong. No teacher willing to step across the union line and defend children and decency. Sad ... but, true.