GHS News

Social Media Brings Forth Teacher "Cults"

Students conducting fan accounts about our staff

Reporter Maggie Belvin

Entering the age of the media and the internet brings forth many amazing things: a place to put memories, seeing things from friends and family, among many others. Though it can also bring up many unpleasant things: Creepy people, bad memories being remembered, and awful photos your friends take of you and post. Weirdly enough… some people in the school have begun dedicating themselves to creating and running fan pages about some of our teachers from GHS. While these accounts are not particularly unpleasant, they are strange when you first find them, or do not understand why they exist. The majority of these accounts are run on the platform of Instagram. There are accounts about, Mr. Keeley, Mr. Ashworth. Mr. Wall, Mr. Campbell, our principal Mr. Reed, even Mr. Crowley, and possibly more. While there are other types of accounts (such as one dedicated to showing food that has been scattered around the school, or the clothing left around the school) these ones about our staff members show the uniqueness of some of the students and what they decide to do with their spare time.

These accounts began popping up over Instagram in 2018 and are either still running or are no longer active (but still exist). While these accounts are in no way harmful to who they are about or anyone at GHS, they are… interesting to say the least. Though fan accounts have been all over social media since it started, it is still weird to see normal people who teach having accounts made about them. Many of the staff, especially those who have accounts in their honor, have very different opinions and words to say about the accounts and those anonymous people who run them.

One of our foreign language teachers, Mr. Ashworth, actually has two accounts in his honor. Ashworth admits that he was “made aware of an Instagram account that was set up several years ago,” and that he “believe[s] that there were several teachers who were selected for this ‘honor’.” Ashworth said his first reaction of the account was “wondering what the purpose of the site was that was shown to me,” though he said nothing seemed inappropriate and that it was just “mostly photo shopped pictures and some questionable comments,” which is an accurate of what the account is. He also said, with slight humor in his tone, that they would “probably be able to find jobs working for MAD magazine.” Ashworth did express that his only concern was that “there were pictures taken in the classroom of myself and other students, which is against school policy,” and that due to this concern he “mentioned the existence of this site to the administration.” But as none of the accounts have been taken down, it is easy to assume nothing can or has been done (or the owners are too stubborn to listen.) Ashworth’s closing words to whoever runs his accounts were “[v]ous avez le “bonjour de ma part et je vous souhaite les meilleures choses pour vos avenirs,” which translates to “You have the “hello” from me and I wish you the best for your future.” Encouraging words to whoever spends their time posting about their high school teachers.

While Mr. Wall does have a fan account in his honor, his meme page is the focus of his attention in this interview. He said that prior to the interview he had heard about this account, claiming that his student would tell him often about it. When asked about how he first reacted to the account, he said “shocked.” “You kids live such a pathetic life to turn to teachers for entertainment," Wall elaborated, "I know one thing for sure, when I was at your age and in high school I wanted nothing to do with my teachers. After three o’clock came, I never thought of my teachers.”

He said all of this with a smile, showing that no true harshness was behind the words. Wall even offered some encouraging words for anyone operating these accounts: “Get a life, go on a date, go for a walk, adopt a pet, binge a show on Netflix."

Even the Dispatch's own Mr. Frank Crowley has an account dedicated to him on Instagram. Crowley said that his initial reaction of the account was “flattered, more sincerely than I should have been” since he believes that there is a “subtext of them making fun of [him].”

Mr. Crowley is in a unusual spot, as he happens to know which student runs the account, and waited until he was within earshot to loudly call him the “scum of the Earth” and claim he “hates whoever runs the account with a burning passion.” He said that while laughing maniacally, so it’s easy to assume that it is not true.

Crowley said that the account will pop up on his own actual Instagram account sometimes, saying “his face would come up on his suggested feed.” Crowley did express some concern over where the account owner gets the photos and videos of him, since he “cannot recall taking half of them or even remember when some of them happened” and having “no idea where they’re coming from.” This sometime makes him feel embarrassed or irritated, but still grudgingly impressed with the fact that they keep finding material. The account owner, who is remaining anonymous, said that “people just send me stuff, I have a whole back stock of ones I haven’t used yet.”

On the opposite spectrum of Crowley is Mr. Keeley, who has a very different view on the accounts. When asked what his first reactions to the accounts were, Keeley said he was “creeped out. It’s weird to have this almost idolatry over a teacher.” He, like Wall, said that he never thought of his teachers in that kind of way. He views the person or people who runs these accounts as someone who “needs a life. Go do carpentry, knitting, fishing, anything that is not following us around with cameras,” and to “stop, take the accounts down and walk away. But if you have to do this, at least use pictures we know are being taken. Less of us pumping gas from afar.” Comparing the students who own the accounts to paparazzi or a stalker, Keeley reiterated that he wanted the accounts taken down. He added at the end, “they should be punished publicly like in Rome,” though his laugh during these words brings doubt to how much ill-will Keeley honestly has for these account owners.

It has become obvious that these teachers all have mixed emotions about the accounts, from Crowley being “flattered” by the account to Keeley believing it is absolutely creepy and weird to have. Nevertheless, the accounts have shown no signs of deleting or deactivating despite some teachers' obvious wishes. As Wall said, unless the accounts start becoming harmful to anyone at the school, staff or student body, they should not be deleted either. They might be a strange way to spend time and an even stranger hobby, they do not seem immediately harmful harmful.

Some, like Keeley, do believe that they pose some potential harm due to the stalker-ish posts. This is understandable; the staff at GHS are people. While most do not see a major problem with the accounts being a thing, they are still entitled to have their privacy.

The future of these accounts lay solely on the shoulders of those who run them. It seems, though, that when one account becomes inactive, two more replace it. And some, such as the account about Crowley, are still going strong. While not all of our affected staff members were interviewed, it is more obvious that they all have a variety of feelings on the subject, and asking more would just widen the spectrum.