School District Fires Social Media Coordinator For Tweet

The downfall of Katie Nash as social media coordinator for Frederick County Maryland Public Schools was, she said, sealed in a tweet. On Jan. 5, as a storm approached, a student tweeted a message asking the district to “close school tammarow PLEASE.” Thinking she would combine pedagogy with a little levity, Nash tweeted from the district’s account, “but then how would you learn how to spell ‘tomorrow’?” and followed it with a smiley-face emoticon. District officials did not smile back. They asked her to delete the tweet and subsequent banter with students about possible school closures, and the student in question received an apology from the district’s communications director.