Posted on 01/23/2008 6:51:55 AM PST by wintertime
Snow days, kids and school officials have always been a delicate mix.
But a phone call to a Fairfax County public school administrator's home last week about a snow day -- or lack of one -- has taken on a life of its own.
(snip)
It started with Thursday's snowfall, estimated at about three inches near Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke. On his lunch break, Lake Braddock senior Devraj "Dave" S. Kori, 17, used a listed home phone number to call Dean Tistadt, chief operating officer for the county system, to ask why he had not closed the schools. Kori left his name and phone number and got a message later in the day from Tistadt's wife.
"How dare you call us at home! If you have a problem with going to school, you do not call somebody's house and complain about it," Candy Tistadt's minute-long message began. At one point, she uttered the phrase "snotty-nosed little brats," and near the end, she said, "Get over it, kid, and go to school!"
Not so long ago, that might have been the end of it -- a few choice words by an agitated administrator (or spouse). But with the frenetic pace of students' online networking, it's harder for grown-ups to have the last word. Kori's call and Tistadt's response sparked online debate among area students about whether the student's actions constituted harassment and whether the response was warranted.
Kori took Tistadt's message, left on his cellphone, and posted an audio link on a Facebook page he had created after he got home from school called "Let them know what you think about schools not being cancelled." The Web page listed Dean Tistadt's work and home numbers.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Well, yeah, I do agree that the snotty kid was out of line, but more alarming to me is that a woman would stoop so low as to actually return this kid’s phone call and go completely berserk over such an asinine issue. Both of them are losers in this matter.
The wife needs to relax. Perhaps the husband should take her for a weekend getaway at the Poconos.
lol! That’s funny!
It he wanted to know the decision process, he would have stopped with the phone call to the office. instead he decided to try to track this man down resorting to looking up his personal phone number and calling him at home.
Regardless of his GPA, he apparently doesn’t have the sense to decide what is appropriate and what isn’t. A failure of his non-existent parents. He deserved the chewing out.
As expected. Given the kid's actions and public comments, I have a strong suspicion that he was neither respectful nor polite.
She LEFT A MESSAGE on a VOICE MAIL system. By definition she consented to the recording of the message by leaving it. The message became HIS PROPERTY the moment she left it, and he was free to do with it whatever he wanted. Just like when Alec Baldwin left his vicious tirade of a message of his 9 year-old daughter in which he called her an inconsiderate little pig among other things, there is no standing or room to complain when the recipient of the message decides to publicize it as a display of what a loser the person who left the message is.
Heck, we had snow all day the day before yesterday and though the actual ‘amount’ wasn’t too bad, the roads, even well after rush hour began were in horrible shape.
I hit a traffic sign myself on a median (only thing that stopped me from skidding out of control into oncoming traffic.) I was actually able to go the OTHER way somewhat safely and conduct my business but they had not salted or sanded the roads at all and I literally had no time (I had just left the cul-de-sac) to figure out I needed to get off the road or go another direction.
Maybe 4-5 inches total snowfall? It’s the road conditions that make it dangerous.
I saw a lot of cars off the highway exit ramp that had gone off the road and some others in other areas. I was fortunate, really, to have only damaged my passenger door.
Did you listen to the message she left. She sounds like a rabid shrew deep in the throes of PMS. Righteous anger has its place, but this wasn't it.
There's a more to this story ... and even though the woman's response was completely inappropriate, Mr. Kori's behavior was not excusable, either.
He plays a good 18th century city councilman / pervert in Sleepy Hollow as well.
I think it’s probably more of a combination of attitude and how the roads are treated in snowstorms.
Snow is snow; I’ll grant you that people in Virginia are probably less experienced in driving in snow, and that the local and state government is probably not as aggressive or as well prepared to deal with snow situations, so I stand corrected.
However, in PA, everyone freaks out over a few snowflakes. This fear is fueled by TV stations shooting for more viewers; if they hype it, more people will watch their newscast, and the supermarkets will sell more bread and milk....
That would depend on the terms and conditions of his facebook account. Since the home phone number is public info and is listed, he is "free" to post it on his page unless Facebook has a policy against posting people's personal information. That does not mean that it was PROPER or APPROPRIATE for him to post it, but he is "free" to post it unless the terms of his facebook account restrict it. All that said, I personally think it was absolutely WRONG for him to post their home phone number; but people have the right to be wrong a lot in this country.
Well, like duh...
If would never have happened if the kid hadn’t made the call...
or if the wife hadn’t reacted they way she did...
or if the kid hadn’t put it on MySpace...
or if Algor hadn’t invented the Internet...
or if you’d never signed up on FreeRepublic...
That better?
If the student was neither respectful nor polite, you would assume that the wife would’ve saved the message to show her husband when he came back from work that evening, no? The husband has been interviwed by several DC-area radio stations today, so why not the wife? She’s the one involved in this phone call drama, so why doesn’t she defend her actions and/or talk about the tone the student used in the message he left at their home?
This is a kid who sat in the school cafeteria and called the home, not the office, of a man who administers a school district with more than 100,000 students, during the school day when school was in session, trying to get information before it was released to the public. Of course adults, parents and taxpayers have a right to expect that they can contact what you call “public figures,” but whiney, pushy, manipulative, smart-ass snot-nosed brats do not. You should have heard this kid on the radio this morning. He has no respect for authority, feels qualified to second-guess decisions made by adults and thinks the world owes him instant gratification. And he talks, like, you know, a Valley Girl, who is bummed because he did not get, like, a half-day off school. I wanted to slap him. I predict big problems for him in the future when he doesn’t get his way. What he did is throw a high-tech tantrum. The wife should have forwarded his voice mail call to his parents.
Oh, pooh. How'd you like it if he posted your number in that manner, and you got hundreds of calls extending to early morning hours?
You know how you'd answer that question. Facebook's policies have nothing to do with whether the kid was violating their privacy. He was.
Good questions ... but they have nothing to say about Mr. Kori’s message. I would not be at all surprised to learn that the District’s lawyer advised her to STFU.
“But,,,government schools can’t do that.”
Can and have.
The kid might have been out of line, the admin’s wife was WAY out of line and if the admin doesn’t want his home phone called by god forbid a student, make it a private number.
“Government schools, freedom of conscience, and the First Amendment can NOT coexist.”
And this has what to do with the purported aim of the student’s call? Or are you just a school basher in general?
If the husband was busy talking to the media this morning (and he’s the one employed by the school system), and the school lawyers have not told him to shut up, what makes you think that they would tell the wife to STFU?
Obviously, she doesn’t want to confront the media because a) she doesn’t want to fan the fuel of this monstruous fire any further, or, b) she knows it was wrong to leave such a nasty reply in the kid’s voice-mail.
In short, never.
PC liberalism is a disease. They merely blame the vast right wing conspiracy on their insane creations and move on to make another mess for everyone to clean up.
I don’t see any evidence of her overreacting.
And yes, ANY call. He should have a pager, and office number or a cell phone.
Your home phone is exactly that.
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