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The move comes just as the page spurted past 1,500 fans curious to hear more about two female high-school teachers caught with their tongues out while a night-time assembly was under way downstairs.
The site promised to grow even larger after a third teacher — and former member of the FB group — was accused of diddling a student. But the page’s administrators locked everyone out of what may have been the largest bathroom stall chat in high school history just as things were really heating up. Call it notoriety remorse.
Teachers Alini Brito (far left) and Cindy Mauro have been reassigned while authorities with the New York City Department of Education investigate what went on outside a Nov. 20 assembly at James Madison High School.
Probers are also trying to recreate the actions of a third teacher, reports say.
No one knows how it will all shake out. But instant fans of the Facebook page that popped up amid the hoo-ha apparently got what was deserved.
No longer can rubberneckers tap into the forum, where some who know the instructors had been sounding off.
Looks like it’s back to the scandal sheets and TMZ.
Riddled with misspellings, typos and grammatical errors, “The Infamous Ms.Brito Rumor” prompted one poster to write: “Clearly your English teacher was otherwise engaged, too.”
But who cared? It was fresh, brisk and funny. People argued, cracked wise, expressed sympathy for the teachers and questioned why they couldn’t go on their munchie splurge somewhere else. Posters also took shots at the creators for popping the page out in the first place — which is when the men got separated from the boys.
As with anyone unprepped for the sudden flash of notoriety (and, more critically, the inevitable backlash), the administrators quickly got second thoughts about telling tales out of school, especially after the entire affair reached what one administrator called “Tiger Woods status.”
As soon as Letterman and other talk-show hosts began setting up their inevitable rimshots … well … the Tower of Babel’s collective weight apparently became too much for the junior achievers to bear.
Negative grandiosity, it’s called — the idea that you alone hold the power to ruin lives.
“Our purpose was just to discuss the rumor as madison students and now [it’s] spread even outside of NYC,” one of the final posts said. “Now the media has impacted their lives & has portrayed this group as ‘THE BAD GUY.’ Therefore, we, the group Admins, want the fans honest opinion on this: If you guys feel the group is to blame, tell us, and …we’ll put it to rest, we don’t nor ever did wish to harm anyone. “
Legions at once shouted: “NOOOOOO!”
“We are only discussing the actions of others,” wrote a police officer in Westchester. “we did not cause them to do what they did and to give in to censorship or take away our right to discuss the matter is wrong.”
Some page fans blamed the janitor who outed the couple, as if he should’ve kept his yap shut, like some kind of real-life George Costanza. Others are saying the teachers should have known better. A few said the pair simply made a mistake by conducting their relationship not only in a public place but in a high school — when we all know that was the kick they were chasing in the first place.
“They messed up, we’re all human,” one poster wrote. “Put yourself in their shoes.”
To which another snapped: “Well, if i put myself in ‘their shoes,’ then I would be scissoring on some desk while my students were at an assembly. sound about accurate?”
The consensus: “BLAME THE MEDIA!”
“They are just a bunch of tabloid gossip spewing hacks.”
When you think about it, though, what is the media these days? This improbable troupe did get its start after a newspaper quoted one of its status updates. People who get their information online don’t ask for press credentials. It’s only the media itself that believes it should be licensed.
As one fan deftly put it: “The more interesting aspect of this story is how social media (twitter, facebook etc…) plays a role in how people hear about “news.” “
In that sense, the mission was aborted. The test tube got too hot and it was shattered by its own energy.
Right now, the most interesting aspect of “The Infamous Ms.Brito Rumor” page is how the creators couldn’t have anticipated how quickly the story would spread, and how those who troll the ‘Net for some genuine schoolyard gossip would flock to them as if they had a fresh new bag of sense.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the Plato’s Retreat that is secondary education — where young teachers hungry for attention spend their days swimming through ceaseless waves of hormones — it’s that nothing stays a secret too long.
Don’t they teach them anything at that school?
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