Speaking Personally: Time spent on transparency will never be time wasted

The most unexpected part of operating the Howell County News has been the loss of our anonymity. Before the newspaper, I used to long to be included in the chitchat at grocery store cash registers. Now, it is a pleasing reality that I know almost everyone in every Willow Springs business by name. And they know me. And they know Ron and the kids.

 

For Ron, it was a bigger adjustment. That dark, handsome, and brooding man of mine values his privacy and solitude. Our extrovert/introvert mash-up has worked out beautifully these 15 years, and as he has come to appreciate my sociable nature, I have come to appreciate his nostalgia for the days when we were unknown to the good people of Howell County. We moved through the world anonymously in those days. It has given me perspective for what I want to say today.

 

The desire for anonymity has shaped my week. It was the wish and demand of several people I interacted with throughout the last seven days. They each had their reasons.

 

Now, one of the most fundamental freedoms of the press is to protect the anonymity of our sources. Operating a smalltown newspaper, however, it never occurred to me there would be as many requests for anonymity as I tend to receive. One important thing to know about anonymity is that if an anonymous source ever appears in these pages, that individual is not anonymous to me. Rather, their identity has been withheld to protect their privacy.

 

It is my right and my privilege to safeguard the trust placed in me by my fellow citizens and by my readers. 

 

And yet. 

 

Oh, how I wish I could convince some of my sources to have the courage of their convictions. 

 

I know that confrontation is unpleasant. One of my most unpleasant interactions with anonymity last week was receiving a series of harassing and insulting emails from an unnamed critic who takes issue with my “attention seeking” behavior on social media. More than unpleasant, it was scary. This person is someone I admitted to my private Facebook page. They have been watching my content there – content about my home, children, work, and life—and chose to attack me because they have, apparently, been watching these updates closely with a secret hatred that they finally unleashed Sunday night. 

 

On another day this week, a desire for anonymity prevented participants from turning in a question at our West Plains City Council Candidate Forum. It would have been the most controversial question of the event, but ultimately a potentially important discussion falls by the wayside because the askers wanted an anonymous way to ask the question. There was low audience participation at Thursday’s event, and theirs would have been the only question posed after the event began. 

 

These two events are in the past, and there is nothing I can do to improve them. 

 

In the Mountain View-Birch Tree School District, however, a grassroots movement is unfolding that would benefit from both courage and transparency. Because of promises I have made to protect anonymity, I cannot yet report this as news. 

 

But I can, and have, called on the MVBT School District to participate in a town hall meeting. Regular readers will know that this is not the first time I have made such a request. Every time, it has been ignored. I am calling on the superintendent, the administration, and the school board to interact openly with parents and the public because the public trust in the school district has eroded almost entirely away.

 

A group of parents are so disillusioned, and feel so disenfranchised, that they are calling for the removal of the superintendent. They want to talk to the school board, but in this district, there is a stumbling block. 

 

District policy dictates that they meet, individually, and face-to-face, with the superintendent prior to addressing the board. When their issue is with the superintendent, Dr. Lanna Tharp, herself, this policy seems unnecessary, if not inappropriate. 

 

This is a group of parents who have organized to the point of stating specific goals. They want Tharp fired. They want to appear before the school board to tell them so.

 

They have a list of specific grievances. They contacted a local podcast personality to publish these grievances. They have spoken to me.

 

This is a level of grassroots organization like I have never seen, and yet? The group of parents maintain their desire for anonymity. Instead of circulating a petition, they released an open letter calling for Tharp’s resignation. 

 

Why?

 

Every parent who would talk to me fears retribution from school administration and staff members for their children. Every single parent I interviewed for my eventual news article said they believe their children will be intimidated, questioned, or otherwise treated badly by school employees for their parents’ actions. 

 

That does not sit well with me. And I do not know if it’s true. 

 

But I do know it is a fear shared by every parent who wants Tharp fired. 

 

Right now, those parents face an inappropriate and unacceptable crossroads – either they identify themselves individually or lose their opportunity to speak to their elected officials on the school board. 

School board members, meet with these parents. Invite them to a meeting. Their anonymity will be forfeit if they appear at a school board meeting, but I understand that they would appear in a group. 

Better yet, let’s all participate in a town hall meeting. These parents want a dialogue that will be difficult to navigate. School board meetings are not a public forum, but that is what these parents want. They want to be heard. They want to protect their kids and to speak up for the policies they, as parents, believe are best. 

 

Time spent in providing transparency will not be time wasted.

 

Staff, admin, and board of MVBT, these parents are not obstacles to the work you hope to accomplish with their children. They are the only people who have innate and biological rights to those kids. Their opinion matters. 

 

I exhort you to listen. On their terms.