Dean Tistadt, Chief Operating Officer for the Fairfax County, Virginia school system, and his wife, Candy, learned a tough lesson in the power of the Internet after an angry voicemail left on a student's cell phone became an Internet phenomenon.
The ordeal started when Devraj "Dave" S. Kori, a senior at Lake Braddock Secondary School, called Dean at his listed home phone number to find out why he had not closed the schools after three inches of snow fell in the area. Kori left his name and number on the Tistadts' answering machine. Later that day, Candy returned the call and left a furious minute-long tirade on the boy's cell phone.
"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," she yelled. At some point, Candy refers to students in general as "snotty-nosed little brats," and towards the end of her outburst shouts, "Get over it, kid, and go to school!"
Kori was taken aback by the anger and combative tone taken by Mrs. Tisradt and decided to share it with the Internet public by posting the audio of the message -- along with Dean Tistadt's home and work numbers -- on
Facebook and
YouTube.
The posting has touched off all sorts of debates over whether Kori's actions constituted harassment, if Candy Tistadt overstepped her bounds, and what is considered a polite and reasonable request for information. Within a day, the clip had received hundreds of hits online. It then made its way onto the local nightly news, and, as of today, had gotten over 20,000 listeners on
YouTube.
Kori, a member of his school's debate team, said he was not intending to harass. He says that he had attempted to reach Dean Tistadt at his work number and thought he had a basic right to petition a public official for more information about an issue that affected him and his fellow students. He says the disagreement probably stems from a generation gap "People in my generation view privacy differently. We are the cell phone generation. We are used to being reached at all times," said Kori. Paul Regnier, Fairfax County Schools' spokesman, retorted that the conflict was more likely the result of a "civility gap."
Needless to say, the incident has resulted in countless prank phone calls to the Tistadts and much embarrassment for Candy.
Our take -- Kori probably shouldn't have called the Tistadts' home line, but Candy's minute -long rant was certainly unwarranted. Perhaps next time she'll think twice before leaving a hostile message and try to explain to the student that calling Dean Tistadt at home is unacceptable in a calm, level-headed manner.
From
Washington PostRelated links:
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Hot on the heels of the announcement that the 
