As a journalist I have to come clean with my unspoken aversion to public relations reps — the way they try to steer the news, withhold information and give fuzzy answers.
But my experience has told me that there’s a huge difference between good PR and utterly incompetent PR.
Since a girl discovered a handgun in a bathroom at Kingsley Elementary School Jan. 4, Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Superintendent Hardy Ray Murphy has held at least two press conferences and appeared at numerous school board meetings. Under all normal maxims of PR, these would be the perfect opportunities to set the record straight and promote new changes in the district.
But Murphy has been incoherent about any overall changes the district will be implementing. Parents and district employees are left questioning his response to the incident.
At Monday night’s school board meeting, where parents and staff at Kingsley blasted District 65 administrators for not taking their concerns seriously.
“Kingsley Elementary faces the possibility of losing families,” Kingsley teacher Randy Heite said at the meeting. “They’re on the verge of leaving because they feel they don’t have a voice. They have lost faith.”
As if hearing about the gun a day after it was found isn’t enough, parents who rely on the district to monitor their children have a right to lose faith. This is a system that hasn’t announced a firm new approach to security and hiring measures more than a week after a suspect has been arrested — and more than three weeks after the gun was found.
“I have apologized about the judgments that were made,” Murphy said at Monday night’s meeting. “All I can do is keep saying that.”
Apologies are great, but after three weeks of frightened parents and intense media scrutiny, District 65 administrators can do much more than just say sorry.
Take security, for example. Administrators met with Evanston Police and fire officials Friday, but so far the district has not released any information about the findings.
For nervous parents at Kingsley and other District 65 schools, a quick response — even if the details aren’t completely hashed out — would provide a certain amount of closure.
And what about the future of the district’s hiring practices?
Charles Scott, the Kingsley Elementary janitor arrested in connection with the handgun found at the school, was not the first District 65 employee (or even the first janitor) to be arrested in the past year. Janitor Robert Crayton was arrested at Lincolnwood Elementary last October on federal charges of delivery and distribution of drugs on school property.
Helen Mardis, District 65 director of human resources, touted the district in November as a “pioneer” in the hiring process, with extensive background checks for all employees. Meanwhile, authorities are saying Crayton had dealt crack cocaine on school grounds, including in a first-grade classroom during after-hours.
Though both Crayton and Scott were hired before the more stringent background checks came into play, it’s hard not to question a system that lets at least two dangerous employees slip through. Murphy has mentioned the possibility of reviewing the district’s hiring process, but for parents who have been waiting weeks for a clear answer, the time has come for decisionmaking.
After weeks of fumbling, District 65 administrators need to address not only the practical issues of safety and security, but also the way they deal with the public. Holding off the media in the interest of security is one thing, but when parents are left in the dark, there is an obvious breach of trust in the district’s relationship with Evanston families.
City Editor Chris Kirkham is a Medill junior. He can be reached at [email protected].
