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Former school superintendent’s apology mends fences
By Lauren | September 8, 2008
In Emeryville, California, Stephen Wesley reportedly did a great job as School Superintendent, enhancing student morale and improving the academic culture in the tiny, two-school district. Unfortunately, his success was short-lived. Wesley was hired in 2007, based in part on his claims that he had a Ph.D. from Columbia University and master’s degrees in theology and philosophy from the University of Chicago; Wesley also claimed to have attended the Principals’ Center at Harvard University. It all made for a very impressive resume – or would have, if Wesley’s claims had been true. Apparently, they weren’t.
When The San Francisco Chronicle reported last Wednesday that his resume credentials had been falsely embellished, Wesley resigned in disgrace and fled from a closed meeting of the Emeryville School Board. According to The Chronicle, Wesley said he wandered the streets in anguish after leaving the meeting. Just imagine how devastated he must have been.
Happily, that’s not the end of Wesley’s story. The Chronicle reports that the next evening, after receiving calls from community members and further reflection, Wesley made an unscheduled appearance at the monthly joint meeting of Emeryville’s Board of Education and City Council. He delivered a straightforward apology, taking full responsibility for “not being truthful” and “for being stupid and selfish.” You have to give him credit – Wesley pulled no punches in his self-criticism.
The response from Wesley’s audience was overwhelmingly positive. The Chronicle reports that his apology was “immediately met with community forgiveness.” InsideBayArea.com, a local news site, quotes the Vice President of the School Board, Kurt Brinkman, as follows: “That took a lot of guts. I have more admiration for the man than I ever had before.” Brynnda Collins, a member of the Emery District Parent Advisory Council, said, “I appreciate his honesty and that he took responsibility for his actions … his heart was in the right place.”
What Wesley did took enormous courage, and he deserves all the kudos he received. Maybe Wesley didn’t get his job back, but he regained the respect of the Emeryville community and, I hope, some of his own self-respect as well. Just goes to show what an effective apology can do.
To read The San Francisco Chronicle story on Wesley’s resignation and subsequent apology, go to http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/05/BARH12OKLB.DTL&tsp=1.
Topics: Apologies, Business Ethics, Personal Ethics, ethics |
September 9th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Lauren,
I hope some expatriates living here in South Korea read this and learn from Wesley’s example.
Unfortunately, the past few years has seen several cases of either falsification of documents or misstatement of qualifications by foreign nationals in order to secure positions at prestigious Korean universities. Sometimes quite senior positions as well.
Such poor practices have a significant and adverse impact upon the reputation and standing of expatriates (particularly teachers), and this effects all teachers in Korea.
In my opinion, sincere apologies from some of these people would go a long way toward undoing the damage caused to the reputation of expatriates and foreign educators as a whole.