Owning our mistakes
A Wilkinsburg school director fessed up to hers
Practice makes perfect but prudence should be used when the practice involves internet publishing.
A Wilkinsburg school director learned this lesson the hard way.
Debra Raubenstrauch, who recently took over management of the school board’s website, was working on a practice public meeting agenda when she said she inadvertently published a joke that referenced President Donald Trump’s proposed wall at the southern border.
She typed a pretend “action item” on the pretend agenda, noting by name another board member who would be requesting acceptance of a $1 million grant from the president for new walls at a district elementary building. The pretend agenda was posted online.
Ms. Raubenstrauch ruffled some feathers.
But she took responsibility for the post and acknowledged making a mistake, both in publishing the fake agenda and in choosing such a divisive issue as the centerpiece of practice work.
“I have since come to realize that the use of this particular topic in this practice document was insensitive,” she said in a written statement. “Its use offended people — some of whom are colleagues and friends I respect very much. I have apologized to them personally and would like to apologize publicly as well. Taking the agenda ‘public’ was sheer human error by a novice attempting to learn a new system. It is my sincere hope that the community views this whole incident for what it actually was — a training session which did not go as smoothly as intended. And I hope that anyone who was offended will accept my sincere apology.”
There was some talk that Ms. Raubenstrauch did not apologize quickly enough when the matter was raised at the public meeting for which the agenda was being published. And at least one board member said Ms. Raubenstrauch’s mistake wasn’t so much as a mistake as a test on how closely the public meeting agenda was monitored. And the board member under whose name the fake “action item” appeared questioned whether political chicanery was at work.
Those so inclined may speculate. The better thing is to take Ms. Raubenstrauch at her word.
It is both rare and refreshing to see someone own a mistake and apologize both publicly and directly to those who have been injured. More elected officials — more people — should be so candid about their failings.