Student asking for a snow day snowballs into something bigger

[DaemonSeid]

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.

The Tistadts received dozens more calls that day and night, Dean Tistadt said. Most were hang-ups, but at one point, they were coming every five minutes -- one at 4 a.m., he said. At the same time, his wife's response was spreading through cyberspace.

Within a day, hundreds of people had listened to her message, which was also posted on YouTube. A friend of Kori's sent it to a local television news station, and it was aired on the nightly news program. As of yesterday, more than 9,000 people had clicked on the YouTube link. Hundreds of comments had been posted on the Facebook and YouTube pages, largely about what constitutes proper and polite requests for public information from students.

One Oakton High School student said in a posting yesterday that the crank calls to the Tistadts' home were out of line but that Kori's call was appropriate. "I am not happy that [Dean Tistadt] gambled multiple times with our safety just so we might have a bit more knowledge crammed in our heads at school," he wrote.

A Westfield High School student agreed: "thank God someone stood up for us at last!"


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...isrc=rss_metro

and you all should hear the message...hehehehe..I am curious to hear the message that was left at the home that caused this woman to go off the way she did.

[nittanyalum]

^^^All this over 3 in. of snow? Come on, kids, you're tougher than that. Can't even make a decent snowman with that little snow...

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

^^^All this over 3 in. of snow? Come on, kids, you're tougher than that. Can't even make a decent snowman with that little snow...

We had to be dayum near knee deep before they considered even sending us late....but that was 20 some years ago...hehe....these kids today...if it gets cloudy enough they close'em down!

Oddly enough in this area we haven't gotten a lot of snow (maybe 3inches TOTAL all WINTER) thus they haven't closed school so I think this lil pissant was so used to every winter getting at least 3 to 5 snow days a year felt......entitled.....

[APhi Sailorgirl]

They played the message on the radio down here in Hampton Roads, VA this morning.

I can understand both sides, but hopefully the official's spouse is now getting some um "media training."

Course after all the accidents due to black ice in Va Beach earlier this week and the miscommunication with school delays, etc it's more about overall safety esp with buses even with a small amount of snow.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by APhi Sailorgirl

They played the message on the radio down here in Hampton Roads, VA this morning.

I can understand both sides, but hopefully the official's spouse is now getting some um "media training."

Course after all the accidents due to black ice in Va Beach earlier this week and the miscommunication with school delays, etc it's more about overall safety esp with buses even with a small amount of snow.

That's fine...but what happened to calling him AT WORK?

and then because you didn't like the response you are going to display the number so others can join in your juvenile fun (well he is a teen after all)


I would curse you out if you called my house too!!

3.9 GPA?

Sonny is your homework done??

[alum]

Many, many local opinions on this matter

http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/fo...d/2/70071.html

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by alum

Many, many local opinions on this matter

http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/fo...d/2/70071.html

Ok....but then check this...if there was an issue on if the school was going to be opened or closed...he should have requested his parents to handle it....

again...the initial call is what's missing.

[RACooper]

First off calling to question/complain at the official's home number crosses the line and I completely agree with the spouse's reply "Get over it, kid, and go to school!" - whiny little brat complaining because he didn't get to stay home because of 3 inches of snow?!?

[skylark]

"Any call to a public servant's house is harassment" says the school's spokesperson, in the article.

I'm not sure if I agree with THAT... maybe it is impolite and best not done, but one phone call does not always equal "harassment."

[skylark]

I just found a new link for the phone message, too (the one in the article has since been "removed by its owner"): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIGtf_ula8k

[ZTABullwinkle]

Originally Posted by APhi Sailorgirl

They played the message on the radio down here in Hampton Roads, VA this morning.

I can understand both sides, but hopefully the official's spouse is now getting some um "media training."

Course after all the accidents due to black ice in Va Beach earlier this week and the miscommunication with school delays, etc it's more about overall safety esp with buses even with a small amount of snow.

I live in Hampton Roads also. Sent you a PM.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by RACooper

First off calling to question/complain at the official's home number crosses the line and I completely agree with the spouse's reply "Get over it, kid, and go to school!" - whiny little brat complaining because he didn't get to stay home because of 3 inches of snow?!?

Apparently the student had tried to contact the administrator for weeks at official numbers, to no avail.

The guy's a public official with a listed phone number - he doesn't stop being a public official at the threshold to his home, nor does a daytime phone call affect his privacy.

The kid was taking a role in his own education and questioning a decision that affects him - there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, regardless of the amount of snow. While this issue isn't exactly Tinker v. Board of Education, we should still applaud the kid rather than deriding him as a "whiner," especially given the fact that he has shown no iconoclastic or anti-authority tendencies at all that we know of - kid's not a troublemaker, by all descriptions. By turn, don't you think the woman would have said things a little differently had she known it would be on the news?

There's no need to call the kid a "whiner" - it just makes you sound like Old Man Cooper, who rode uphill both ways through high water, sub-zero temperatures, broken glass, the monster from Cloverfield and attempted pirate rape.

[alum]

My youngest is an FCPS student. I agree with holding school last Thursday. The roads were fine at the normal release time. All afternoon and evening activities were cancelled that night and there was a (IMO, unnecessary) 2-hour delay the next morning.


-----
Apparently Mrs. Tistadt is a Helicopter Wife.

BTW, she is also an employee in an FCPS elementary school.

[mu_agd]

My sister called the superintendent one year when we had two feet of snow on a Sunday afternoon. She figured they would call Monday off that night and when my mom hadn't received her "teacher's call" by a certain time my sister decided to see if his number was listed. It was so she called and he told her he was just about to call it in that school was cancelled. Apparently other people had called as well. He soon got a new, unlisted number.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Apparently the student had tried to contact the administrator for weeks at official numbers, to no avail.

The guy's a public official with a listed phone number - he doesn't stop being a public official at the threshold to his home, nor does a daytime phone call affect his privacy.

The kid was taking a role in his own education and questioning a decision that affects him - there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, regardless of the amount of snow. While this issue isn't exactly Tinker v. Board of Education, we should still applaud the kid rather than deriding him as a "whiner," especially given the fact that he has shown no iconoclastic or anti-authority tendencies at all that we know of - kid's not a troublemaker, by all descriptions. By turn, don't you think the woman would have said things a little differently had she known it would be on the news?

There's no need to call the kid a "whiner" - it just makes you sound like Old Man Cooper, who rode uphill both ways through high water, sub-zero temperatures, broken glass, the monster from Cloverfield and attempted pirate rape.

again....f that was an issue, he should have had his parents handling this.

and I think she would have handled it differently dependent on the initial call.

Again...ad nauseum, we heard HER message...what did he say that would have initiated the meltdown?