The captured moment was cringeworthy. It wasn’t, perhaps, as awkward as a fly landing on, nesting in and then evacuating from a field of white hair atop a vice-president’s head during a nationally televised debate. But it was close.
When Chula Vista Elementary School District Superintendent Francisco Escobedo paid a recent housecall to a local family to check in, in all likelihood he probably thought it would be a harmless gesture of support.
Instead it turned into — as spin doctors and the damage control specialists would proclaim when someone screws up — a teachable moment.
It certainly was a human one.
In an image shared on social media and then on a local television news broadcast, Escobedo was seen looming over the shoulder of a student and, reportedly, engaging with teachers and students who were participating in online instruction.
Without wearing a face covering.
In an enclosed space (someone’s home).
During a pandemic.
Ugh.
Escobedo later told NBC 7 San Diego: “I made a mistake. Briefly lowered my mask to say hello to the teacher and students who were online during distance learning. It shows even a superintendent can experience a teachable moment.”
Imagine that, even superintendents are fallible.
To his credit Escobedo acknowledged the lapse in judgement and owned the moment. And he has handled the pandemic, school closures and distance learning reasonably well.
Unlike many of his counterparts in other areas of the county, Escobedo’s approach to in-person instruction and a return to normalcy has been measured and based on reason.
But, like the rest of us, he is human and he does have those moments when, caught up in the moment, we forget where we are. And the circumstances.
There have been times when I started for a walk outside and forgot my mask inside, or made my way to the entrance of the supermarket only to realize I was not wearing a face covering.
The lapse in judgment, like Escobedo’s, is not born of malicious intent. More so out of distraction. Or anxiety. Sure, Escobedo’s was a “teachable” moment. But more importantly it serves as a reminder. We have to remember to always keep our guards up.
And our masks.
