FIRE IN THE HOLE

Hard to believe it’s been just 12 years since Maine and, specifically, Bangor were the toast of patriots everywhere for the rousing round-the-clock welcomes given to troops passing through Bangor International Airport as they returned home from the Gulf War. Today, we are just toast.

The furor that has engulfed this state the last few days – the one about Maine schoolteachers harassing and taunting the children of military personnel – will one day serve as a textbook example of a how a mistake turns into a media frenzy. Today, it is just hurtful.

It started with the Maine Army National Guard conducting help sessions at family assistance centers in Portland, Augusta and Bangor in recent weeks for the 300 or so families of troops being deployed for possible war in Iraq. From that came a local television report Friday in which Guard officers said there have been a dozen instances in which teachers, staff or students had taunted or been insensitive to the children of military personnel, although nothing even resembling evidence was offered.

More stories followed during the next few days. Some focused on the alleged outrages committed by unnamed teachers at unspecified schools – an unnamed teacher’s assistant somewhere who may have told a soldier’s child that soldiers are unethical suddenly was the most famous person in Maine. Some stories described efforts by Education Commissioner Duke Albanese to work with educators and the Guard to prevent future problems and to ease any hurt feelings.

No matter, because by Thursday, the story had gone national and Maine was the most despised state in the nation. Rush Limbaugh was excoriating Maine, as were Bill O’Reilly, Oliver North and every other conservative commentator with a keen eye for dastardly unpatriotic acts, especially when committed by that especially suspect group – public schoolteachers. The Wall Street Journal picked up

the story, with the helpful headline “Great Moments in Public Education.” The Washington Times added its two cents – and in the process inflated the number of alleged outrages to “more than 30.” Hundreds of e-mails from throughout the country are flooding newspapers across the state with the writers offering many suggestions – some painful, some physically impossible – on what this unpatriotic state should do with itself and its treasonous teachers.

For amazing, eye-popping journalism designed to fire emotions and spark vigorous comment, this story has it all. Except for facts. The Guard will not make public, or even make known to education officials, what teachers allegedly taunted pupils or even what schools harbor such rotten behavior. That horrid teacher’s assistant could be anywhere or nowhere. The only other incident given any degree of specificity is that a school staff member may not have been appropriately sensitive to a pupil needing early dismissal for the send-off of a parent. Meanwhile, in what must be a first for school-based outrages, no irate parent, aunt, uncle or grandparent has come forward to put any sort of face to what remains faceless rumor. Now, Guard officials say they are conducting a fact-gathering process. Now?

The Guard has a duty to assist the families of deployed troops as much as possible. If the Guard confirms instances in which children have been hurt by thoughtless comments, it should strongly make its concerns known and to expect the utmost cooperation from educators in ending it. But by expressing its concerns in the form of allegations it was not willing to substantiate, the Guard inadvertently left a live grenade lying around and the national media ran by and pulled the pin, wounding the state and a profession. Don’t expect a return visit by the national media to this charred landscape when that fact-finding process is complete.