Eric Taussig: Facebook is not appropriate place to post official school business

To The Daily Sun,

The following email was sent on November 17 to Patrick Andrews, superintendent of Moultonborough's Schools as a result of a report that the schools were closed due to Covid-19 problems in town. No report of this significant problem was posted either on the school or town's official web site even though this information should be available to all residents.

"Mr. Andrew,

Yesterday morning, my wife and I heard from an acquaintance that the School District was closing the schools and returning to remote virtual instruction due to Covid. In an effort to learn exactly what was transpiring, I looked at the School District’s website and was unable to find out any relevant information on what I would consider a very important development that transcended the school community.. I contacted the acquaintance who alerted us to the school closings and was told that this news only appeared in the School’s Facebook page and the local Blog, both private social networking entities not operated or controlled by the School District. Both Facebook and other private media sites are notorious for failing to edit and often accused of promulgating fake news

My wife and I are very concerned about the School District’s failure to publicize the closure of schools and the Covid spread on the School District’s web site. We are further appalled by the lack of detail even in the presumably accurate Facebook posting. The spread of Covid-19 in the town and the quarantining of faculty, students, etc. should not be relegated to Facebook or the llog, private entities that have had frequent unverifiable information and disinformation. The local blog, another unregulated entity, is also not a entity for public announcements. The school and town web sites should be utilized for such purposes, not social networking web sites, subject to editing by third parties and outside of the School District and town’s control

I would hope that you promptly post the details of the Covid-19 situation so the town’s residents can take the necessary precautions to avoid contracting this deadly disease.

Eric Taussig

Moultonborough