What if he was underage and I was a weirdo 40-something?
What if I followed him on Twitter?
What if I, after weirdly stalking his Twitter feed, noticed he had a party at his house over the weekend and one of his sketchy friends tweeted about having ecstasy at said party?
Would I ask the sketchy kid who tweeted about it? Would I ask the student who had the party, who is my student and and I respect?
Would I submit a concern to the administration, the people who's job is to deal with student discipline?
Or would I decide to announce to not one, but ALL of my classes the next day about the "ecstasy party" and the bad high school kids who would throw such a party, based solely on a tweet I saw while STALKING a TEENAGE BOY'S twitter feed?
No. The answer is - I wouldn't.
Because I'm not a psycho who follows her teenage male students on Twitter.
Because I have half a brain and understand that MAYBE a teenage boy can tweet something that isn't true simply for the comedic value. Call me crazy.
Because I would ask the real person who tweeted about ecstasy, not the respectable, stand-up young man who works so hard in my AP class and has never done anything remotely delinquent.
Because if I were concerned, I would address that stand-up young man personally, privately to ascertain the truth.
Because sharing that a kid who had a party last weekend (everyone knew about the party AND who threw it) was a bad kid and had drugs and alcohol at his party MIGHT be considered slander and is a generally terrible thing to share even if it WERE true. Which it isn't.
Because what would happen if that untrue information started being spread around town by people who don't know the stand-up young gentleman and might believe it?
Because I'm not only a normal human being, but I understand that as an educator I have a reasonable duty to be a positive influence and have a shred of integrity.
There is someone at Maple Mountain High School who does not share these values (also called common sense).
It's a good thing my little brother is the amazing kid that he is.
It's a good thing he has built such a good, honest, strong reputation that most people know he would never have ECSTASY at a party, or even be anywhere near it.
It's a good thing he's so mellow and such a good sport, which has enabled him to roll with this.
It's a good thing it wasn't me. Because she'd be sitting in front of the Board of Education explaining why she did all the aforementioned things.
