An entitled female fan at a Sept. 5 Miami Marlins-Philadelphia Phillies baseball game he鈥檇 recovered in the stands and handed to his son. The fan鈥攄ubbed 鈥淧hillies Karen鈥� online鈥攈ad also pursued the valuable souvenir and come up short.
Soon after, a school district in Hammonton, N.J., became the subject of a storm of misinformation.
What does a baseball game in Florida have to do with a school system in New Jersey? Ultimately, not much. But online sleuths who viewed viral videos of the incident, bent on pursuing justice, became convinced they鈥檇 identified the woman as a Hammonton schools administrator.
鈥淧hillies Karen鈥� has no connection to Hammonton schools, but in an experience that鈥檚 increasingly common for school districts, Hammonton leaders saw a lie spread much faster than the truth ever could. So district leaders took a creative approach, defusing the situation with some strategically placed humor.
District leaders and communications officials say old public relations strategies are no match for social media, smartphones, and newly accessible artificial intelligence platforms, which have contributed to a swell of misinformation about everything from local bond issues to claims of litter boxes in school bathrooms.
The day after the baseball incident, Hammonton administrators woke up to dozens of calls, social media posts, and emails demanding the supposed employee鈥檚 firing. Two people even went through the more complicated process of filing formal harassment complaints on the district鈥檚 website.
鈥淚鈥檓 a Yankees fan, so I don鈥檛 follow Phillies games,鈥� said Superintendent Thomas Ramsay, who hadn鈥檛 seen the viral videos when school board President John Lyons called to alert him that a zealous internet mob wanted him to fire an employee who didn鈥檛 exist.
The district has 3,400 students, four schools, and no communications director. Ramsay and Lyons, who recognize every district administrator, said they knew the woman in the video was not an employee. They also quickly realized they needed to issue a statement, but they were concerned their correction wouldn鈥檛 get as much attention as the original falsehood.
To cut through the noise, Lyons decided the message should include some sarcasm so it would be more likely to be shared on social media and published by media outlets.
鈥淭he woman identified on social media as 鈥楶hillies Karen鈥� is not, and has never been an employee of the Hammonton Public Schools located in Hammonton, New Jersey,鈥� the statement said. 鈥淎nyone who works for our school district, attended as a student, or lives in our community would obviously have caught the ball bare-handed in the first place, avoiding this entire situation!鈥�
To confront misinformation, district gets creative
The approach was successful. Within two days, a district Facebook post of the statement had 14,000 reactions, it had been shared 2,000 times, and shares on other platforms had gained similar traction. Large media outlets鈥攊ncluding Yahoo News, the Daily Mail, and the New York Post鈥攑ublished the joke. Phone calls to the central office demanding the woman鈥檚 firing were replaced with calls to congratulate the district for having a sense of humor about the situation.
Lyons gets credit for the joke, Ramsay said. While the statement was comedic, the notion that a lie could have harmed the district鈥檚 reputation was not, Lyons said. With experience in New Jersey political campaigns, he knows how to put a little mustard on a press release.
鈥淣ew Jersey politics is a contact sport, and I鈥檝e learned that you can鈥檛 take yourselves too seriously,鈥� Lyons said. 鈥淚f we鈥檇 put out something that鈥檚 just sterile and boilerplate, my concern was that it would not get picked up, that we would spend a bunch of time trying to beat back a story that wasn鈥檛 true. My remedy to that was to try to put a spin on it.鈥�
In a of about 400 school communications officials conducted by the National School Public Relations Association, 96% of respondents said the spread of misinformation was an issue, up from 81% in 2020, and 78% said their district had faced a challenge related to the spread of false information in the last 12 months.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really this steady drumbeat we鈥檝e been hearing,鈥� Barbara Hunter, the executive director of the NSPRA, told Education Week in June.
The organization has provided its members with strategies to help counter disinformation鈥攌nowingly false information intentionally spread鈥攁nd misinformation, which may stem from an exaggeration or an honest misunderstanding of a policy or data.
District communications directors said they鈥檝e learned when to shut off comments on schools鈥� social media pages, how to rebut lies on various platforms, and how to share as much information as possible without violating student or employee privacy.
They鈥檝e also learned how to respond quickly to a snowballing crisis.
In Hammonton, that meant leaders couldn鈥檛 wait until normal business hours on Monday to address misinformation that emerged on a Saturday. So Lyons and Ramsay quickly huddled with the school board鈥檚 attorney, drafted the statement, and contacted an on-call employee to post it on the district鈥檚 website and social media.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a time to make a joke and make light of something, and there鈥檚 a time to be serious,鈥� Lyons said. 鈥淚f [people on the internet] don鈥檛 know anything about our schools, at least they know we have a good sense of humor.鈥�
The woman in the viral video has yet to be successfully identified, but several other targets of online misinformation have had to issue strong denials after they were falsely accused of being 鈥淧hillies Karen.鈥�
After the father at the Marlins-Phillies game, Drew Feltwell, quickly handed over the ball to deescalate the situation, Harrison Bader, the Phillies outfielder who hit the home run, invited the family to meet him after the game.
Feltwell has asked internet sleuths to call off the dogs.
鈥淧lease don鈥檛 do anything to that lady. ... The internet already messed her up pretty good,鈥� he .
