On March 30, 2010 the world of education lost one of the most influential educators to teach in the city of Los Angeles, if not the country. As a teacher at Garfield High School for over 16 years Jaime Escalante used math as a medium to teach his students that through diligence and dedication they could achieve the goals they set for themselves.
Escalante had a straightforward approach to education: “The key to my success with youngsters is a very simple and time honored tradition: hard work for teacher and student alike.” He summed it all in just one word – ganas. The Spanish word meaning drive/desire. The lessons Escalante taught went beyond his classroom, however, and reached even those who were not his students. While we never sat in his AP Calculus class at Garfield High School, we learned a valuable public relations lesson from Escalante.
In the early ‘90’s one of our clients asked us to coordinate an event at Garfield High School to encourage more Latinos to enter the engineering field. A known advocate for increasing Latino representation in engineering, Escalante served as a spokesperson for the campaign. During a news conference, Escalante explained how learning math and calculus today could lead to jobs in the engineering and electronics fields tomorrow. It was after the official program that, without knowing, Escalante would teach us all a lesson in handling the media and reporters.
Following the news conference, reporters went seeking one-on-one interviews with students. Escalante sat down for an informal chat with a reporter from a local newspaper. Assuming the interviews were over, Escalante spoke to the reporter candidly regarding his opinions on the educational system in Los Angeles, and about the tension he said he felt at Garfield. All innocent issues you would share with a friend, except that he was speaking to a journalist.
Our staff person arrived in the scene just in time to hear the reporter ask Escalante “Don’t you ever get tired and just want to leave the school?” Escalante’s simple answer was “Yes.” The next day’s front-page headline for the paper stated “Escalante Considering Leaving Garfield High School.” He left Garfield shortly after the story ran.
Although it was ultimately Escalante’s decision to move on, we learned some valuable and hard lessons that day. Here are a few:
- Don’t assume anyone is a media expert just because they have given many interviews. Escalante, like many celebrities and elected officials, can be caught off guard when they relax and forget they are always in the public eye.
- Though you do not want to impose on interviews, you want to be involved enough to ensure that your spokespeople are staying on message. If a reporter begins to deviate your spokesperson from the interview topic, step in and remind the reporter what the interview should be about.
- Have adequate staffing to ensure that you properly work the media. There should be enough team members to guarantee that there is always a staff person with your spokesperson. This will help prevent misrepresentations of your organization or your spokesperson, such as the one that happened in this case.
- Understand that by simply agreeing to a statement that another person makes, you automatically make that statement your own. The fact that you or your spokesperson did not personally make the statement does not matter. If you agree, it can be attributed to you.
Closely monitoring the way your spokesperson interacts with the media will not only prevent negative stories, it will help ensure that the story you want conveyed gets printed. The lessons Escalante taught his students stay with them beyond the classroom and have reached the facets of their personal and professional lives. Even we who were not fortunate enough to sit in one of Mr. Escalante’s classrooms at Garfield High School, were still his students.
