Defendants' Response to First Request for Documents

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Andrew's email commenting on first set of received ICSD emails

Notes on ICSD Discovery Emails

  • Judy Pastel requests, on January 4, an executive session of the BoE to "share major concerns about the upcoming Tattler issue and its leadership." D00407
  • Alaine Troisi doesn't like the Tattler. January 18: "We have another issue which is the IHS Tattler. Johnny Vann brought to my attention the horrible racial language in the last one where they were talking about Ralph's Ribs. If you get a chance read the article [sic]. Please let me know your thoughts." D00437
  • Melina Carnicelli cares about the educational value of the Tattler, and also hates students standing up for themselves: "[The proposed teacher survey] has no educational and/or academic benefit, and I'd argue little or no journalistic benefit either. For a student organization, an endeavor of this nature should satisfy the test for educational efficacy. And, since The Tattler's previous survey allowed students to apply/test their abilities in a statistical analysis, another exercise of the same nature is unnecessary. … On another note, I was very distressed and disappointed at Rob's remarks to me, 'She will have to do better than that,' when he heard my response to why the Superintendent was not approving the survey for distribution for teachers, and 'I think it's up to her to get in tough with us,' when I suggested he and Prabhas put their response in writing to the Superintendent. I should hope you share my distress and disappointment in that type of inappropriate posturing by one of our student leaders toward the Superintendent and me." D00440
  • Eileen Bach gets confused about which is Hazelwood and which is Tinker. "The Supreme Court decision on Hazelwood allows school administrators to censor any articles (poems included) that would substantially disrupt the school. While the wording may not be exact, I know the test is 'substantially disrupt the school.'" D00449
        • teachers and administrators constantly use degrading quotes
  • Vinch and Russell discuss Tattler guidelines; Russell suggests sitting down with Tattler editors, but only "after we (and our attorneys) have produced a draft, rather than starting with students to come up with a draft." D00478 to D00479.
  • Joe Wilson tries to get Tattler editors to take journalism classes. "The conduct of last year and this year's leaders of The Tattler indicate that they need training in journalistic ethics--that intersection of rights--of which they claim to know much about--and responsibilities." D00480.
  • Bill Russell makes a move on Joe Wilson: "Do you have any time tomorrow (Tues)? [to discuss what Wilson calls "the on-going 'Wilson issue'] I'm busy in the morning, but available pretty much any time after 1:00, including a quick drink after work if that appeals." D00482
  • Chuck Bartosch, BoE President, characterizes the administration's reaction to the Tattler as "over-reaction." "Basically, I see an over-reaction that is causing a greater problem than that is justified, in particular, to criticism of Joe Wilson. If they want to say 'he stinks,' well, he's a public figure (in the context of the students) and just has to suck it up a little. I'm not trying to be callous, but trying to impose restrictions on the students (even when they are off-base) just isn't healthy. It'd be better to use their 'open forum' to get the truth out if we're concerned about the situation than to get them into a fight. Win their hearts, not crush them, as it were." D00495
  • Roy Dexheimer wins Andrew's heart. "I do have to say that the 'Tattler' is generally a well-written, well-constructed student paper. The articles are literate and many are actually interesting. And maybe I missed some things, but I read a lot of supportive stuff about Joe and the policies, as well as the occasional downer (e.g., the report on the assembly with the 10th graders). I'm not going to go out of my way to publicly praise the paper, but I must confess to you privately that it's a pretty good student paper." D00502 10 November 2004
  • Judy Pastel complements Tattler writing, little else. "I agree that [the Tattler] is well written and overall the last edition was balanced. My concern primarily involved the cartoon. I think that the cartoon [she's writing this in November--which cartoon?] was very inappropriate and did a disservice to the article below it. Also, I think following up unbalanced reporting on Joe in the first edition with a poll and stating a no confidence student vote for Joe in the second edition was not good journalism. As one teacher shared, 'there are a number of AP students whining because they are being held accountable for the first time.' These same students have control of the Tattler." D00502
  • Roy Dexheimer, some more. "The stuff they wrote about Joe Wilson this past year was annoying, but not libel. The cartoon was annoying and in bad taste, but I'm not sure it would meet the standards of being obscene (and from what I'm reading about Middle School habits, I'm not sure it would appeal much to their prurient interests). The review of the restaurant was a sloppy attempt at humor, and ended up sounding racist. But not the level of being censored." D00513
  • Judy Pastel seems to worry about sex advice in the Tattler affecting middle schoolers' minds. D00516
  • Joe Wilson decides he can use the Tattler to persecute staff. "Per your and Judy's suggestion that we work with staff to correct the breaching in testing security, etc. described in the last Tattler, I need the galleys with the actual names in them. Stephenie says there is only one copy and that you have it. Please advise or deliver to me via Emily." D00543
  • David Lee thinks that "we have at most a 1 in 3 chance of prevailing if it goes to the courts. … we are certainly losing and will continue to lose the PR war … this is a classic cause celebre which these guys are prepared to ride all the way to their Harvard Law applications four years from now. I think we have more important things to worry about frankly than the Tattler." D00566
  • Revised Tattler guideines D00571-2
  • Moira Lang complains about Tattler editors using IHS copiers D00580
  • Vinch should have been a defendant, too. D00601
  • Ross Creagan: "I am so sorry and disturbed that the long, bad habit of granting privileged status to 'intelligent' students has so quickly challenged your authority and insulted your hard-earned honor. The Tattler staff are misusing their 1st Amendment rights to rant and rave like so many spoiled children when you treat them like any other student. I'm enraged that parents of Tattler students continue the tradition of threatening litigation against administrators as the most effective way of protecting their children's long tradition of special entitlements at I.H.S. It's appalling that the students on The Tattler, and their parents and lawyers who stand ready to attack you presume to have enough information about you to judge and challenge your policies. This is the only time since I began working here in 1988 that I felt there should be more provisions in the First Amendment, allowing censor of immature press in educational settings, particularly when selfish interests take precedence over the best interests of the community. I'm equally troubled by my peers, some of whom express surprise that you would make an issue of how hurtful the bad press and graffiti have been for you, when they presumed your authoritative style would continue, in the face of student resistance, with unflappable resolve." D00602
  • "Who 'owns' The Tattler (paper, right to publish, name)? Is it copyrighted? Can we prevent an unauthorized publication of a duplicate of the paper version? What if there are some changes (e.g. to the title)? How much change is sufficient to deem it a separate publication? Can we withdraw school sponsorship of the paper (office, computers, club status, student activity funds, stipended advisor) over this issue?" D00331
  • After the production of the February Tattler was finished, Vinch sent a long email to Bill Russell and Joe Wilson detailing acts of censorship she had done. ("There is an editorial on the Tattler editors' belief that the new guidelines are illegal. I had them add the text "We believe" to explain that it is their opinion that the guidelines are illegal." D00475).
  • RT can "handle arrogant kids well" D00625
  • Eileen Bach says that RT "can handle arrogant kids" qtd in Wilson's notes D00626
  • Jarrah/Lily academic dishonesty incident. Joe Wilson, ever the lawyer, writes a lengthy email to "Chief" describing the incident, and at a meeting held with the students/etc., he makes all participants sign in on a "sign-in sheet." D00633-635
  • Stephenie Vinch claims that other teachers were contacting her because Tattler kids were jamming G-copier––we were not, goddammit!!!––and talks about how she doesn't think we should have a code, and "furthermore, the documents they are copying are to prepare for litigation *against* the district. I thought you might want to see the documents. Certainly our attorneys will want to see them." Wow, Stephenie Vinch is a... I can't even describe. D00636
  • as usual, Eileen Bach weighs in on anything and everything, including Tattler press passes D00653
  • I hate how Eileen Bach constantly refers to the Tattler archives as "the morgue." It's disrespectful.
  • Joe Wilson sends copies of Lynne Saulsbury's moronic reaction to my article about Wanda Stambaugh to Bill Russell & Ken Pickens D00655
  • information about early development of Tattler guidelines to BoE? D00658
  • Bill Russell outlines his complaints with Tattler? very biased, of course. D00659
  • awwww, it's that photo of jen that I love! D00667
  • Stephenie Vinch thinks that the purpose of a newspaper is to ensure that peoples' feelings don't get hurt: "It seems that our editors AREN't learining from their mistakes––they keep making decisions that are insensitive to others" (D00681)
  • Wilson admits that he wished we had been censored earlier: "The editors have been across the line in previous issues, and, had any conceivable set of guidelines been in place should, could, would have either been disciplined post facto or censored in advance" D00681.
  • Russell: "We need to move sooner rather than later in establishing some specific guidelines." D00692
  • Eileen Bach writes a long email to Judy Pastel about how racist we were for printing a photo of Thomas Baskin-Bey... and ERB proves again that her philosophy of journalism was to make people feel good. D00698-9
  • Ross Creagan-Goebbels writes more happy stuff. "This is the first time I reflected on how a formal pledge of loyalty should be required of staff." . D00703-4
  • Wow. I don't want to end up writing or thinking like Ross Creagan. Again, he writes so that a sentence logically arguing A also includes various semantic/syntactical tricks to insinuate (to convince using emotion rather than reason) B, C, D, E, and F (the last of which is, incidentally, the grade he should be giving himself for those atrocious emails. And he's an ENGLISH teacher!!!)
  • a new email thread! the guidelines in december! D00721-2
  • Joe Wilson: "I need a copy of the Tattler galley that lists all the teachers where 'cheating is easy'" D00748-9
  • Wilson on 1/13/05: "Ponder this hypothetical. Eileen Bach volunteers to take over the Tattler. If this transpires, and I bet that it does, we will need an advisory board." D00751
  • JW comments on Ithaca Times's first story D00753
  • Jeff Spence apologies to Wilson for negative respone to his administration! D00754
  • Spence: "I have some concerns about surveys generally, especially after this morning's Tattler. Pretty soon we'll have surveys about the APs and individual teachers that will prove 'no confidence' in them, and we can move that much closer to that state of perfection where the students are officially running the school." D00754-5
  • Vinch really was passing everything on to Wilson. Brilliant email by Abe, though. D00762
  • why is RT "physically unable" to be at school all day? she's not young, but she's not ninety--what is she, undergoing dialysis? D00773
  • Bill Russell sends Tattler guidelines to Roy Dexheimer!!!! as early as May 3rd D00774
  • the Daily Sun's Yuval Shavit made inquiries as to the Tattler. D00775
  • Mike Cuddy DEFENDS THE TATTLER'S REPORTING on the baskin-bey issues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! D00789
  • what the fuck?!?! NEW guidelines, dated October 2006?!? in Teukolsky's documents.
  • Bach against me, again D00483
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