My article- Max Bash

Alleged Discrimination at KO

Kingswood Oxford has been in the spotlight lately with the media portraying KO as an institution of discrimination, due to allegations arising that a recently hired supervisor for ServiceMaster fired workers for speaking Spanish on the job.

People that go to KO or are in the know realize that this type of behavior would never be condoned at KO. However, people away from KO may think otherwise based on the media reports.

Head of School Dennis Bisgaard mentioned that people do know there’s more than one side to the story. People are shocked by the reports. Some think that the media were biased and focused more on KO, than what they should’ve been focusing on. Mr. Bisgaard believes that there may be a private school stereotype involved. “The story covered the contrast between the tuition at KO and minimum wage workers, “ said Mr. Bisgaard.

Director of Communications Sonya Adams there was a stereotype in media reports. She described that there was a spotlight on KO’s tuition and that the media made the KO/ServiceMaster connection when they shouldn’t have. “The media focused more on KO than the ServiceMaster and worker relationship,” according to Mr. Bisgaard.

The media did what they did for ratings, not to report the facts. People already believing certain stereotypes, confirmed their beliefs, based on the reports, according to Mr. Bisgaard.

“There was a stereotype because the media made it seem like KO and other private schools only cared about money and are discriminatory,” said Freshman Julianne DeAngelo. She described how the media is making KO look bad by to showing us as the people who fired the workers, but in reality Service Master did.

Word choice was another problem with the media’s reports. “A Channel 3 reporter asked for me to go on air. I said no, but released a statement because this isn’t a KO issue,” said Mrs. Adams. The reporter actually went on to twist her words and say she declined to comment when she didn’t. The connotation of words affected public perception.

As for the picketers, KO was a convenient place to get their point across. Mr. Bisgaard pointed out, it has prominence in the community and the fired workers were from KO. They would receive an immediate presence.

This incident has invoked many to believe that KO may choose another company to do cleaning. “We also need to look at their work method. It’s an appropriate time for alternative options. ServiceMaster may expect this. To their credit they did offer to rehire the workers, but this was turned into a political issue,” said Mr. Bisgaard.

“I think we should because keeping them as our cleaning service vendor will only hurt us in the long run,” said Julianne.

One might think that KO should’ve said more in order to maker the media reports less biased. “We say little as possible and don’t want to condemn other organizations,” said Mr. Bisgaard.

The media may use excerpts for an alterior motive out of context. Even though KO barely said anything, the media was still manipulative. Julianne agreed with Bisgaard, saying that the more we say is the more they have against us.

Mr. Bisgaard felt that we should just let the incident fizzle out and not hold a press conference, because if one is held the media may manipulate the story again. “We might say something, if we get a new vendor,” he said

Mrs. Adams agreed with Mr. Bisgaard, saying that she doesn’t think it would be a good idea. The publicity KO got was unfair. “They have a way of twisting words,” said Mrs. Adams. KO will be keeping quiet.

“People who know ServiceMaster employees might think why did KO not do something and be a tad disappointed,” said Mr. Bisgaard. He made an announcement, but after the assembly, no one asked questions.

“Students care very deeply about things being right,” said Mrs. Adams. If they listened to biased media reports, they may have been disappointed. “No, I’m not disappointed because it’s not the school’s fault,” said Julianne.

Many have been worried that KO’s relationship with the community may change, but Mr. Bisgaard doesn’t think it will change. Mrs. Adams also believed this. “KO’s image will not be affected,” said Mrs. Adams. The allegations are against ServiceMaster, not KO.

Julianne disagreed, mentioning that people outside of the school may think differently, because they’ve only seen the media reports and may not know the school too well.