It snowed here in Virginia last Thursday and, like many local jurisdictions Fairfax County decided to stay open and not close early as the snow fell. In a saner time, it would not have even been a story.
In the Internet era, though, it’s made the front page of the Washington Post:
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. Through the ubiquity of Facebook and YouTube, the call has become a rallying cry for students’ First Amendment rights, and it shows that the generation gap has become a technological chasm.
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.
There’s blame to go around here. Tistadt’s wife was wrong for calling the kid back and going off on him, but she wouldn’t have had to do that if Kori hadn’t been a cry baby wanting to know why he wasn’t going home early — and that’s exactly what he was. And he was a jerk for posting the phone call, and Tistadt’s home phone number, on the internet.
So much for children behaving like children I suppose.
Here’s the YouTube of Mrs. Tisdadt’s return call, frankly I cheered her on the first time I heard it:
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Please. I am an adult and I would never have called a person and left such a nasty message like that, especially given the position her husband holds! If you don’t want people calling your house, DON’T HAVE IT PUBLISHED! I applaud the student for putting her nasty call on YouTube and exposing her for the rude person that she is. A mature, educated adult would have ignored the phone messages and went about her day. I hope she gets a dose of reality, TODAY’S reality. It is getting harder and harder to get away with rude behavior like. Bravo to the student. He wouldn’t have been able to call an UNLISTED phone number, right? My father is a physician and we never, ever had our number published for the very reason to avoid unsolicited phone calls.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
There’s a lot of stupidity here to go around. Perhaps the most idiotic behavior of all is a major metropolitan journal putting a story like this on its front page.
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
The reason it was on the front page was because this is indicative of a larger problem. Editors don’t make that decision without a trend to back it up if the situation seems trivial in isolation.
The problem could be any number of things. Widespread arrogance could be one possibility. Unchecked power.
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:31 pm
There is an even bigger problem here and that is the disrespect that students and often times their parents have for teachers and administrators. This woman obviously had been pushed to the brink. You can hear the frustration at this student’s lack of respect in her voice. It is a weekly event that some student feels they have been wronged by something as minute as getting what they perceive as too much homework. Consistently the parents back this behavior. Most people seem to have a lack of respect for anyone who works in education. Even people who work at the collegiate level can have a lack of respect for those who have chosen to teach the young people in our country. This is just another sad but all too often common example of what happens all across the United States on public and private schools. So I say good for her not to take it any more!
January 24th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Being an alumna of Lake Braddock,and more importantly of Fairfax County Schools, I understand the student’s frustration. I remember one day in particular when my car skidded several times on the ice driving to school because the County had made the wrong call on whether or not to cancel school.
There have also been times when school was canceled because of predicted snow that never showed. (Though, I’m sure we can all agree that later situation is preferable to the former.)It can be a tough call, especially when one is trying to make a decision for such a large county (a problem unto itself) where road conditions can vary greatly.
But how is an administrator to know when he or she makes a bad call unless notified?
I don’t know what Kori said exactly in his message, but if it was tactful, I think he had every right. Mrs.Tistadt, if she has gotten several unwelcome calls from students, should rub a few brain cells together and become unlisted instead of blowing up at a 17 year old. I think it’s unfortunate that he wasn’t given a better way of notifying Tistadt. But that’s the bureaucracy of the public school system, isn’t it? F* any good lines of communication. It’s unfortunate that Kori, if he felt that it would be dangerous driving home at the scheduled time, was not allowed to make a judgment call for himself and leave early. F* students’ rights.
The system will never be perfect, why try to improve it, right?
And Dana, people don’t disrespect people who work in education. They disrespect people who work in education and shouldn’t. When was the last time a teacher got fired for anything short of statutory rape?
January 25th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
-not quite on topic, but..
“When was the last time a teacher got fired for anything short of statutory rape?”
Just thought I’d recall the recent case of Larry Neace: a high school physics teacher who was fired because he gave an F on an assignment to a star football player, and wouldn’t change the grade to passing when the principal demanded it.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4653085
http://donsingleton.blogspot.com/2005/05/support-this-teacher.html
http://www.democracy-project.com/archives/001549.html
January 27th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Hi, everyone!
I am a VERY,VERY proud alumna of Lake Braddock Class of 1979! (The first class to go all the way through the school!) I totally agree with Lindsay! Dave Kori had EVERY right to call a highly paid, public school official who was listed in the phonebook, no less, and articulately and politely speak up about the snow day. It was a safety issue, and safety always comes first!
When one takes a job in education, that’s how it rolls! People call teachers, administrators, school board members, etc., morning, noon and night, holidays and weekends, and they email them too! They call for the small, medium, and large issues! Educators need to respond in a respectful, polite, pleasant and informative way. It’s called parent-educator-student communication, and it’s a crucial part of the job description. That’s what you sign up for in your job as educator, and it’s a true blessing to help and serve! If you can’t do that, like Lindsay says, “Find another career!”
Lake Braddock has to be THE most special high school in the entire country. Dave Kori is yet another shining example why. It’s always in the news for something, and for very good reason. Not only do you get a college (or waaaayyy better!) education, but you are imbued, from Day #1, with the awesome, core values of individuality, free thought and love of learning-both are celebrated daily and vigorously in all of the teaching and learning there.
I teach down here in TX, and not a day doesn’t go by that I don’t try to instill my teaching spirit with the wonderful, wonderful passion of my beloved, totally awesome Lake Braddock teachers, and my students’ spirits with the joy of learning and self-expression that I was gifted with while I was so very happily there.
I was one lucky, lucky girl to go to that school back in the ’70’s and so were my siblings. All of us are successfully contributing to society and making a difference every day in the world with creativity,intelligence, social conscience, originality and, most of all, gratitude for how Lake Braddock guided us with the joy of learning and the celebration of the individual, and it still guides us every step of our blessed lives and careers today. From Boise, to Hong Kong to El Paso to Pittsburgh, we are all five making a daily difference, and we have Lake Braddock to thank for who we are today.
God bless Lake Braddock. God bless Dave Kori. All the kid was doing was living his Lake Braddock values and flying his Lake Braddock free thinker flag high and proud! We should all be so lucky to have kids like that in our class! We should all be so lucky to have the Dave Koris of the world in our world!
I very proudly shared Dave’s story of first amendment rights with my middle school learners, and I just want Dave to know that 150 first generation, Mexican-American sixth graders down here on the U.S./Mexican border have another cool hero to add to their list: you! They even want to meet you! You’re right up there with Kanye West!
God bless free thinkers and impassioned learners everywhere!!! We should ALL be so lucky to go to Lake Braddock. Rock on, Dave!
Kathleen
Class of ‘79