Social Media
Avoiding Negativity in Moments of Stress
BY NICHOLAS J. POLYAK/School Administrator, December 2021

IN THE MOVIE “Anchorman,” Will Ferrell’s character Ron Burgundy famously signs off his newscast by telling his constituents, “You stay classy, San Diego.” I believe the same advice holds true for how school administrators should approach their usage of social media.

By most educators’ standards, I think I tweet a lot. Probably 99 percent of all of my content on Twitter is related to celebrating our students, our teachers and their collective accomplishments. It’s a great way to tell our district’s story, connect with each other and amplify the wonderful things happening daily throughout our classrooms, hallways, kitchens, maintenance rooms, school buses and offices.

The past two years have been incredibly difficult to be a school leader as we’ve all tried to navigate the details around running schools during a pandemic with changing rules, metrics, science and landscape. We have been frustrated, at times, by a lack of guidance at the local, state or national levels. Other times, the guidance has been in constant flux. 

We haven’t known what metrics to use to open and close our schools or move to hybrid learning. We haven’t known whether to require masks, make them optional or ban them altogether. We’ve had questions about cleaning protocols, air quality, social distancing, contact tracing and quarantining.

Channeling Frustration

Throughout these turbulent months, I have seen many colleagues take to social media to lash out at their governors, at the Centers for Disease Control, at their state education departments, at their lawmakers, at their state health departments, at their unions, at their local school boards, and the list could go on. In some extreme cases, I have even seen people lose their jobs because relationships were ruined by the public airing of frustrations.

All social media posts are permanent. They are searchable. They define what people think of us individually, and more importantly, they define what people think of our schools and the communities we represent. And the rest of us aren’t helping the situation when we re-share those posts from our colleagues or we further encourage using these platforms by commenting and celebrating the public negativity.

Let’s be honest. No one likes to be called out in a public forum. As superintendents, we are frustrated when parent groups take to Facebook or Twitter to question our decisions. We hate it when online newspaper articles lead to venomous comment streams questioning our choices, our competence and, often, our character. We can all agree these situations frustrate us, yet many of us fall into the same trap in using those same forums to criticize others.

I’m not suggesting that we blindly support decisions that we do not think are in the best interest of our kids, our staff, our buildings or our communities. Advocacy is a huge part of school leadership. But there is a time and a place for that work to be done. Pick up a phone. Send a letter or an e-mail. Ask for a meeting.

When possible, ignore the vitriol and take a break from social media altogether. Refocus your energy and efforts on the good, on the organization’s mission and vision statements, and remove yourself from the bait of the fight. Treat the professionals in those leadership roles in the same manner that you would hope to be treated in your leadership role.

Constructive Discourse

At the end of the day, we work in a business that is grounded in relationships. We also serve the public as appointed or elected officials. When we take to social media and call out other professionals, we cause damage that cannot be undone.

We have a responsibility to model professional, constructive and appropriate communication. It’s important because our staff is watching, our parents and communities are watching, and most importantly, our students are watching. We should run everything we do through those various lenses. 

I hope we are all able to work together with positive and productive discourse to always do what’s best for the kids in our communities. In all times, especially in stressful times, we must remember that we are all #BetterTogether. Let’s build one another up and let’s use all forums to do this, including social media.

NICK POLYAK is superintendent of the Leyden Community High School District 212 in Franklin Park, Ill. Twitter: @npolyak