I heard about the story listening to 106.1 the Corner, and I found the full details at WashingtonPost.com:
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!”
Source: Va. Student’s Snow-Day Plea Triggers an Online Storm by Michael Alison Chandler, 1-23-08
You can listen to the voicemail message Candy left for Dave online, but the videos at the WP hyperlinks have been removed. Try this blog instead.
I think I’m taking the kid’s side on this one. Someone, get that woman a cup of coffee and some chicken soup for the soul.
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Tagged as: Humor
Someone needs an unlisted number. I’m siding with the kid too. He is a kid, after all.
yikes, I kind of side with the kid as well..but only to some extent. She clearly flipped out and shouldn’t have, but creating a facebook group about it is a bit overkill…I’m also curious what kind of message he left for them when he called. But yeah…haha seems like that lady needs to chill out..
Kids an entitled brat. And until we hear his message, tone and content then its not a level playing field. But calling the guys home because he is pissy about not getting the day off? Call the office and deal with it.
Saftey may ass. He is pissed he did not get the day off.
While she should not have called him back and left that message there is no way he should have called their home number and by posting it encouraging others to do so. That’s harassment.
i haven’t listened to the message (because i think the whole thing is ridiculous) but i do think the kid is out of line - he was harrassing them by calling them at home and then decided to humiliate this woman by posting her tirade on the web. she shouldn’t have lost it in her message, but can you imagine what went through her mind when she got the message - her husband is already in a stressful enough position trying to ensure the safety of all these kids, and now the prospect of students (or their parents) calling them at home to complain about not having a snow day? come on - would you call your mayor at home when you have problems with trash collection? or call your doctor at home (unless it was a true emergency)? the kid is clearly having fun with all of this - what kind of message is that?
Now I know why I retired as a school administrator after 32 years. I agree that students have the right to free speech, but this is not it. The school official has a place of work and any reference to that work shopuld be addressed there. This was not a matter of emengency and threat of harm to anyone. It was a kid, who had no respect for others and only for himself, who wanted to sound off. Calling an official’s home is not a first admendment right. It’s harrassment
Mayor McCheese was always cool with that. Ah the good old days.
And I am shocked, SHOCKED, that a highschooler behaved this way. No respect? No thought to protocol. No giddy shadenfruede knowing you inadvertantly caused an authority figure to flip their biscuits, and you have it on TAPE? I am surprised this isn’t front page of USA Today. annnnd d d d…Bsszzzzcchhht! Just ruptured my sarcasm gland.
I know I never did anything *cough, cough*
/has stories far to emabrrasing to tell.
I don’t know the law about recording voice conversations but I believe that if the person knows they are being recorded (i.e. on an answering machine) then the law is a bit more lax about what can be done with it. If he’d recorded her without her knowledge during a conversation, for example, he might have some problems. Unfortunately, this woman’s actions may have to force them to get their phone number changed - but in the end is that really so bad. She left a stupid message with a teenager, which is also stupid. Having a number changed and unlisted is simply a consequence of her overreacting.
I agree — without knowing what the kid said in his message, I don’t think it’s possible to completely blame the woman for overreacting. From what I can infer based on the message she left for him, this kid implied that the school administrator wasn’t reachable at his office because he’d stayed home due to the snow (among other accusations). In reality, school officials are up at the asscrack of dawn when it snows, to make decisions about just this sort of thing.
Anyway… there may have been three inches of snow on Thursday, but Friday morning was relatively warm and it was above 40 degrees by like 10 am… by noon there was no snow to be found anywhere. The kid is hiding behind “safety” and “free speech” when really I think he just was being a brat and wants to get away with it.
Oh, and pedantic grammar nerd alert: the title of this post should be “How bad do you want a snow day?” … not “badly.”
I thought being high school was about trying to be a brat and get away with it. And that being an adult was about not reacting like a brat to brat-like behavior. Inexcusable behavior by both, but by the adult, it’s truly egregious and inane. Yellow card for him; red card for her.
Stanley, I’d agree with you to a point, but being in high school also means that when you’re acting like a brat, you often get called on it. The kid is 18, for the love of sweet little kittens. Time to grow up. Is he going to call his college presidnet at home and bitch when classes aren’t cancelled and there are 22 inches of snow on the ground? Is he going to call his boss and complain about having to come to work even though there’s rain in the forecast?
The kid deserves an A for cleverness and resourcefullness. He’ll probably start a snarky web blog one day
NOTICE: Your telephone number is public information. Neither using it nor posting it does harassment make.
Is he going to rent a helium ballon and fill it with a mixture of water balloons and kittens and let it soar unmanned into the greater airspace over suburban Arizona?
I suppose we wil have wait and see.
geez. the spelling nazis will be all over me for that one.
shakes tiny impotent fist of rage at the sky
I think that here in Charlottesville, it is common for people to call public officials at home. For example, back when I was active in my kids’ PTO, there were parents who would call the mayor of Charlottesville at home to complain about stuff related to the school board. This was when the school board was appointed by city council and accountable to them. I once called a school board member at home. I wouldn’t have thought it was appropriate, but I knew a lot of other parents who did the same.
Not that this kid’s actions are justified, but his behavior is typical of a teen’s, whereas the angry woman was out of control. In her message is a lot of unexpressed frustration at the demands of her husband’s job that would have been appropriately vented elsewhere.
divine miss error
you’re thinking of “feel badly”
and adjectively
Aint no none way we be needing any spelling Po-Po!