The Sentinel published a news story last week about the latest new hires for the Wrangell school district. The community should welcome the two teachers to town for the school year that starts next month. But instead, Facebook lit up like a sparkler on the Fourth of July.

Or maybe it was an M80 firecracker.

Before anyone could get hurt any further, a Wrangell Community Group Facebook administrator shut down comments on the Sentinel story and later deleted the entire posting from the site.

That was the right call. There is no requirement — and no need — to provide a soapbox to amplify incorrect information.

Most of the comments were supportive of an elementary school teacher who lost her job this year, which is understandable. She was a popular teacher, and the reasons for the school administration decision, because it was a personnel action, were not shared with the public.

That decision created one of the teacher openings.

But too many of the comments veered into dismay over the new hires. Not because of their experience or whether they are a dog or a cat person or whether they enjoy farmed Atlantic salmon. Several of the nastier postings commented that the two teachers had worked overseas.

If the Facebook fans had read the entire news story, which they clearly did not, they would have learned that, yes, both have spent time overseas, but both have more recently worked in this country. And one, with 28 years of experience in schools, was a teacher in Cordova last year.

Nothing unusual about working overseas for a stint. A few million Americans live and work overseas, depending on which estimate you track. The number is increasing, as more U.S. citizens take jobs in foreign countries for family reasons, to experience a different culture, for better pay — for whatever reason. 

And when they are ready, when the job ends or when aging family members need help, they come home, as did the two educators hired to work at Wrangell schools.

Wrangell should celebrate the diversity that new teachers, who become new members of the community, bring to town.

For those who want to continue their objections to the dismissal of a popular teacher, it’s good that you have that right in this country. Just don’t let it spill over to discredit or dissuade the town from welcoming the new teachers.

Use good judgment and don’t be so quick to judge.