PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A personnel manner took on a life of its own on social media Thursday and Friday.

 

On Thursday, school administrators at Herberg Middle School dealt with a "personnel" matter with an employee. The district took steps to shield the children from seeing or hearing what was happening. Those tidbits of information then grew as the conversation about the matter spread on Facebook, dovetailing into accusations of teacher misconduct and arrests.

 

"It had absolutely nothing to do with children and no arrests were made," Superintendent Jason McCandless said on Friday. "There was not a single student involved and there were no allegations regarding misconduct."

 

McCandless said the administration took "every effort to keep students from seeing what was transpiring among grown-ups." 

 

"If there was anything that really concerned kids or put kids in danger at any level, this district has a reputation of letting parents know," he said.

 

On Friday, school administrators began hearing the widespread rumors of teacher misconduct and "outlandish claims" and put together a robocall to alert parents to what happened. One call went out Friday morning and another was scheduled for later Friday. 

 

McCandless said he could not provide further information regarding the personnel matter.