The report of South Panola High School’s new principal-elect having a “race change” has been highly exaggerated.

What’s worse is that I was the “exaggerator.”

What’s even worse is that I used two sins that I most despise as a journalist and a person—assumption and stereotyping.

Rodney Flowers is not an African American. I assumed he was in a story on the front page of Friday’s edition because I stereotyped his last name and most folk I know with a surname of Flowers, except for a band of Caucasians from the Enid proximity, are African Americans.

I wanted to blame my mistake on having worked extra long hours, sometimes from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m. due to some equipment failures that have caused us to print elsewhere;
I wanted to blame the school’s website because Flower’s picture was not included with staff photos;

I wanted to blame Flowers himself for not having a Facebook page where I could go and pry into his personal life;

I wanted to claim dementia because I have met Flowers when he was selected to lead Pope School as principal;

I wanted to blame the weather because no one was at the school Wednesday on a snow day when I was writing the story to confirm my misgivings.

But the truth of the matter is I got busy and didn’t finish the job of checking my facts.

And this newspaper still checks facts, most of the time anyway.

So after a rather boring school board meeting I tried to make an exciting story about the new high school principal being the first black high school principal since integration in 1971.
Except it isn’t true.

Regardless of what I’ve written, Flowers will guide South Panola High School and to him I apologize, not for mistaking his race, but for not checking my facts.

The other really shouldn’t matter anyway since he appears to be a good ole Southern boy and most hopefully, a good “school man.”