The woman was a jerk, and I think she acted badly.

But there's no way that I think she should be punished by the district. She wasn't acting as a school official at the time of the call; she was acting as the wife who took a phone call at home and was angry about it.

She didn't use any of the schools' time or resources and her call didn't reflect an action by the district or relaying official information from the district. Her call relayed the personal message of "get over yourself and quit calling here."

Now, again, I think she should have been smarter and I think it would be wise for her to apologize to the kid for the insulting language in the call.

But no way is punishing people for a lack of professionalism in the calls they take at home justified since there was nothing professional about the call in the first place.

If she acts this way at work, bust her for that, not for how she acts at home.

I didn't think the wife's call was that bad. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt that she was having a bad day and this kid who presumed to call her HOUSE to bug her husband about getting out of school just sent her over the edge at the moment. Lapse in judgment, but I didn't think she was that out of control. It's not like she left the kid a message full of profanities.

Although I completely disagree with your conclusion to punish her, I'm afraid you are right about the standards school personnel are held to.

My opinion does differ about lower SES families a little; my experience in Georgia is that some of the very worst kids and parents about blowing up any perceived slight or disrespect (much less the kind of insults here) into a huge deal are the kids at the bottom of the SES ladder. On some level, it makes sense they'd be sensitive to disrespect in a culture that values material success so much, no doubt, but I see the greatest amount of "you can't make me do that; you can't tell me what to do; you can't talk to me that way" attitude from lower SES kids, even when what's been said or asked is really just standard protocol for the school and is handled politely. (For example, we're supposed to take up cell phones if we see the kids using them and turn them into the front office to be picked up by parents.)

The richer kids are more likely to superficially play the game and are more manipulative, in my experience.

But as far as school staff, richer schools often have a surplus of applicants and if you are a jerk to the kids or parents, they will run you off. At a harder to staff school, they might be more disposed to let more go. I think that's a sad reality.

I disagree completely - if teachers want to be treated as professionals, they must act as professionals at all times. Attorneys are subject to discipline from their respective bar associations for "off-duty" actions, and many other professions have similar codes of conduct.

There is indeed something "professional" about the initial call - the kid was asking an (apparently) earnest question that was well within the job guidelines for the guy he called. The wife chose to make a scene, even though it was completely outside of her "authority" or responsibility.

I just don't understand the "calling the kid back" bit. Rant and rave, delete the message if you must, but why call a kid back JUST to rail at him.

No it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't her business either :rolleyes:

I'd get annoyed if my boyfriend called a coworker back if they had a job related question and left a message on my phone. It isn't his place.

Oh, I'm not excusing her by any means. I guess I just expected to hear her call him every name under the book based on the furor I'd been reading over it. She just sounded really irked and annoyed. And I don't think anyone's heard HIS message, is that right? I'd like to hear the message he left before I make any more judgments on her. But I'll agree, a little more self-control, maybe a count to 10 and a deep breath would have served her well that day.

Eh, I'm not passing judgment, I just think she was acting stupid no matter what his message might have said.

It's a bit of an assumption, but if his message was in appropriate I suspect we would have heard about it.

I think her call falls into the category of "Something we all totally understand WANTING to do, but you simply cannot do it".

I totally agree on this. There are all sorts of things that we want to do in life, but don't, because we are mature enough to recognize that it is really wrong.

Granted we didn't hear the student's message, but from all accounts it doesn't seem like it was at all abusive... I think it would have come out if it had been something like "You're an asshole who doesn't care about returning student's phone calls." It sounds like he was rightly frustrated at being ignored and treated like he was insignificant when he wanted to discuss the situation with the right person. He was probably a little over the line to call at home, but not that far over the line since the number was itself listed.

What is shocking to me is that it appears that while the student was trying to find an opportunity to discuss the matter professionally (which I am inclined to take his word for given his rumored high GPA and involvement in debate), an adult who was only marginally affected by his message chose to interject herself into a situation and act abusively and immaturely. It is even more shocking to think the state of Virginia pays this woman to teach on a day to day basis -- I'm pretty sure kids in class are prone to crossing the line more than this Kori kid, and she is PAID to have the maturity to act and if necessary discipline kids in a constructive way. I don't think that includes screaming and name-calling. If I was in any way connected with this school district, I would petition to have this lady fired immediately. There are certain occupations where you have to have the ability to keep a cool head, and teaching is one of them. What happens when a kid in her class is acting up and starts to REALLY cross the line (call her names, etc.)? Will she fly off the handle again, and how far will she go? If she can't handle hearing a student leave a well-meant message on her home phone without blowing up, she needs to be in another business.

This story amuses me in a way, since I'm a Lake Braddock grad. I have to agree with Kori though. In that area, there really is a habit of calling school off for a half inch of snow, but not when it's actually accumulating. My senior year (2003-2004) there was one day where it snowed and they didn't call a delay or anything, and there were actually multiple accidents (students and teachers alike), as the snow quickly turned to snow and black ice.

I feel that when a public official makes a policy decision, the people whom it affects have the right to know why the decision was made. Maybe Kori shouldn't have called him at home, but he did have a listed number.

I also feel that a person should NEVER take their spouse's career into their own hands without permission. Seriously, this could end up with him getting fired because his wife decided to answer a message addressed to him. It's not a good idea. Especially when she responded the way she did. It would have been one thing if she'd picked up the call and heat-of-the-moment responded, but she had to redial the number, wait through the pre-recorded message, and then leave that message.

... and we know this how? All that is out there is the returned call not the original one (or for that matter many messages or calls there might have been), all we have is the kid's word and recorded response with nothing from the spouse... and a spouse that likely for legal or disciplinary reasons can't discuss her "side" - and based on the kid's reaction to that call I don't really see much support for his original call being "professional" or "earnest".

:)

Right, but does your code of conduct cover responding rudely on your home phone or face sanctions from the bar? I doubt it. Sure if the professional organization established a pattern of bad behavior the bar or professional organization might take action, but I really doubt you'd be suspended for treating someone who called you at home rudely. As a matter of fact, I suspect there are very few things that aren't actually criminal or expressly spelled out by a code that the Bar would address with you.

Again, I don't think what the women did was a good idea, and I agree that you're better off acting professionally any time you might be observed by member of the public. But I don't think she should face disciplinary actions for responding to a phone call at home in a rude, but not criminal or obscene, way. (If she had threatened the kid or something similar, then I'd feel different, but just something along the lines of "quit being a brat," nope.)

The kid should not have called the guy at home. If he sincerely wanted a professional response to his question, he should have pursued it within appropriate and professional channels. Calling the guy's house was out of line. I wouldn't call it harassment, but it shouldn't become acceptable.

I think the public does have a right to ask questions of public officials, but that you need to do it at appropriate times. If the guy really wasn't calling him back (and personally, I think 24 hours is probably a better window to judge rather than the impression that I have that the kids called him at his office at lunch and then called him during the same lunch hour at home), then the kid could have called someone else in the school board chain of command or, better yet, get on the agenda at the next school board meeting to address it.

I don't think that you can really expect the guy to field every phone call from every kid about snow days, especially in a district as heavily populated as Fairfax Co.

Alright just a couple of questions to help me get a handle on why the kid was even asking.

- What is the average snow-fall hitting the region that results in a "Snow Day"?

- Is 3 inches really that bad on the roads in Fairfax? (ie. people not knowing how to drive, no snow tires, etc.)

- does anyone know what the time-frame for the calls to the office and then the call to the house?


PS> As I write this here in Calgary where I'm visiting it's day two of the -60°F to -65°F days (including wind-chill)... and the schools that are cancelled are mainly because the buses won't start, or the in areas in which the kids might have to wait more than 20 minutes for the bus.

A follow-up:

FCPS had a 2-hour delay today for rain. Apparently it was icy near the Shenandoahs but not one district in our vicinity called for a delay except Fairfax. Obviously a tactical move to err on the side of caution.

Dave Kori got slammed with Saturday detention for talking on his cell during school hours. Candy Tistadt is still running rampant around the halls of the FCPS elementary school where she is employed. And her husband? Well, he is still making idiotic decisions that adversely affect FCPS.....

Slammed with Saturday detention?

Why, he'll be scarred for life.

Alum, if you have evidence that the women or her husband perform their jobs poorly, why not take it up through legitimate channels? What's up with your feelings about FCPS?

ETA: I've been thinking more about it, and I think it would have been smarter for the system to ignore the calls completely, rather than to punish him but ignore her. And just based one this at home phone call flip out, I don't think the district did need to punish her.

they are in the north part of virginia... its not like it never snows. If this was a southern county, i would understand the complaint, because the county is not equipped appropriately, however, if they canceled school for every 3 inches of snow, well, there would be a lot of snow days.

Our school was on a hill, some classes down the hill and some up. The school didnt have the main power to get all the streets and stairs cleared, but not one day in four years was school canceled. I mean, we would be clinching onto the rails of the stairs to get up and down.