Terrible Look For Virginia Beach Schools Chief

Virginia Beach’s schools superintendent has some explaining to do.

Aaron Spence’s squishy public statement last weekend, which attempted to explain away his wife’s vulgar Facebook post that featured a photo of the Spences, tagged him and insulted the President of the United States, doesn’t go far enough.

Here’s the New Year’s Day post:

Looks like 43 people thought this was marvelous.

And here was Spence’s response (in a statement to 13-WVEC)  once the post went viral:

I understand some people are upset about a post my wife made on social media. I am rarely on Facebook, was not aware of the post, and was regrettably tagged without my knowledge. Her views are her own, and I apologize to those the post offended. Like everyone else, my wife is entitled to her opinion and I defend her right to free speech and self-expression. However we have discussed what this means for us as a family and for our community, and I am confident a situation like this won’t happen again.

My wife has chosen to deactivate her Facebook account, because photos of our children are being shared online in response to this posting.  I ask those who are sharing images of my children as a way to express their concern to desist immediately, as my children deserve better. Thank you.

“I apologize to those the post offended,” blah, bah, blah... but really, we’re the victims because people are sharing photos of our kids.

Time for a reality check, Dr. Spence. You’re not the victims. The people of Virginia Beach are. We pay your salary and we expect you to conduct both your professional and personal life with some minimal amount of dignity.

This is embarrassing.

Let’s take Spence at his word, that the post caught him unawares and he didn’t realize he’d been tagged in it. While he’s in no way responsible for the distasteful social media activity of his wife, is it too much to ask that the superintendent denounce the crude language and the point of view expressed here?

With the explosion of social media, schools have attempted to caution students to be careful on the various platforms. In fact, most schools post social media guidelines intended to promote civility in a digital age.

We have a right to expect our schools chief to enthusiastically support such measures. That would suggest he should condemn extreme incivility, including profane insults aimed at the president. Especially over a post that included what appears to be a selfie of him and that - at first glance - could be interpreted to represent his point of view.

Last time I checked, Spence was pocketing at least $257,200 a year from Virginia Beach taxpayers while pushing nutty initiatives that discourage teachers from giving zeros to students who fail to turn in work and abolishing class rank and valedictorians at local high schools.

It may be a stretch to say that kids look up to school administrators as role models. But when you accept a job at the head of a public school district you should - at a minimum - exercise some common sense and decorum.

Spence needs to strongly disavow this post. While he’s at it, he ought to apologize to the students who saw it and explain to them why it is unacceptable.

According to the Virginia Beach City Public Schools Social Media Guidelines, if a school employee had created this Facebook post they’d be in violation of school policy.