From The Editor: An Apology For Volleyball

On behalf of The Nashville News, and personally as the editor, I would like to apologize for the column “Volleyball” by Nashville Community High School Superintendent Ernie Fowler that was published in the Wednesday, August 30, edition of the newspaper.

It is not my intent that this newspaper offend its readers.

Offense though, is a matter of perspective and of opinion – the multitude of comments and calls we have received show this quite clearly.

Mr. Fowler has apologized in a column published in this edition of The Nashville News. He has also stated that he will no longer be writing a regular column after this.

What I am more sorry about than the offense experienced, was the negative attention that this column brought to NCHS and to Nashville.

I believe in NCHS, as an entity, and I believe in the students at NCHS. They are amazing teens, working on becoming amazing adults. They deserve to be recognized for their achievements – in academics, in athletics and in various extracurricular activities.

So readers, I am sorry.

Teachers, I am sorry. I do not wish to make the difficult job you have, educating our young people, even more difficult due to this column.

Mr. Fowler, I am sorry to you as well – I should have advised you that the column would not be received in the way that I believed, and that I still believe, it was intended.

Students, I am even more sorry.

I am sorry that my lack of editorial oversight contributed to television news crews staking out your parking lot, contributed to a high school day being filled with even more drama than normal, or that contributed to you being from a school which “that column” was about, instead of you being recognized for your many very respectable achievements.

The good news is, the media circus will pass and even as I am writing this, it has already mostly blown over. For students, while this is one big item of news, you will have countless achievements in the future that will overshadow it as time goes by. The Nashville News stands ready to continue to let our readers know about them.

  – Alex Haglund, Managing Editor