Keeping Scavengers At Bay

Yesterday I was thanked for my morality. That kind of thing doesn't happen in most other kinds of jobs. When was the last time you were thanked for your ethics?

The Athletic Director at a local high school was fired. Well, not exactly "fired." His contract was not renewed which is pretty much the same. Understand, this is a decent guy who got caught up in a political situation.

"You know the day I found out I picked up my four year old son and I could look him in the eye and know that I did the right thing," he told me.

The thing he did is support a coach that the administration wanted gone. He inherited the situation and didn't know that he was supposed to give a bad evaluation to the coach.

So I caught wind of the situation and started making calls. The athletic office said he wasn't in. The schools PR person said they were making some changes, but they were not prepared to make a statement at this time. Ummmhummm.

A few minutes later the AD called me back from his cell phone. Panicked. I reassured him that I wanted to get the truth out there. My story would reflect the truth of the situation. He refused to comment on the record. But off the record he spilled his guts. "I'm putting down my pen," I told him. "If it's not in the notebook, it's not in the paper."

All I had were two no comments. That's not a story.

My third call went to the president of the school board. She apparently didn't get that memo about not making a statement at this time. I chatted with her before I asked the money question. And she proceeded to run her mouth about the AD being let go.

Confirmation.

I now had a story. I had to call back the AD and let him know that I would be printing something. He was panicked again. This poor guy lost his job, is looking for work elsewhere and now the paper is printing a story about it. My editor stood off to the side watching me handle this interview.

I explained that we would be printing something. That because I had gotten on the record confirmation that he was let go and that nothing scandalous happened, nothing I printed would reflect badly on him. If anything the school board looked like idiots.

"This is your opportunity," I told him. "Now is your chance to say something on the record. " So he did. And he ended up looking like a saint. He talked about his appreciation for the staff, coaches and students. Particularly the students.

I always could count on him for a good quote.

That's when he thanked me for my morality. "At least you're not like these other people. You're not under their thumb."

I don't work for the school board. I work for the people of this community. That's where my loyalties lie.

Everyone must have had time to think about things over the weekend. The PR chick called on Monday morning begging me not print the story. She found out that the president of the school board talked. The school board chick called too, begging me not to print anything. I called them all back and assured them that I would be printing something. They were crushed.

Then this morning my editor asked me to rewrite the story. The director of human resources met with the AD and they are looking at keeping him on.

I called the AD. After an conversation with a lot of off the record quotes. (Really good ones, too.) I finally asked him the question that had been bugging me the whole time.

"Do you really want to continue working for these people?" I asked.

There was a very long pause. "I want to continue working with the coaches and the kids," he said. "I love this place. The people here have been very welcoming."

So the story has been heavily edited, but at least it will run.

Hopefully this will stop some of the scavengers who like to tear apart decent people.

TARB