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Chester superintendent wants to know who sent honor roll to the newspaper
By Becca Tucker
Chester — Student honor rolls publicly recognize students’ hard work while inspiring others toward the same achievement.But the Chester honor roll published in The Chronicle last week has also inspired the superintendent of schools, Helen Anne Livingston, to search the district’s fax machines to find out who sent the honor roll to this newspaper. Not finding the evidence she was looking for, the superintendent sent an e-mail to district employees warning them off (please see e-mail, left).
Livingston’s e-mail was forwarded to the paper by a concerned person who, like everyone interviewed for this story, asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation.They may have good reason to worry. While public employees have the right to speak about matters of public concern, they also have an obligation to follow the directives of their employer.“I think the law is probably muddled here,” said Gene Policinski, vice-president and executive director of the First Amendment Center, a non-profit educational operation. But, he said, “The public has a right and a need to know what its schools are doing ... I would hope the school officials would be able to separate concerns over Web site comments from the beneficial aspects of using your newspaper and others to tell the public about what’s going on in the schools.”
In this economic climate, with this superintendent, teachers fear that even associating with an employee of The Chronicle could cost them their livelihoods.“In general, teachers can be disciplined for insubordination, which is not following directives,” said Carl Korn, the spokesperson for the United Teachers Federation. Discipline can range from “a talking to, to a reprimand, to suspension, to termination.”A teacher speaks outStill, one teacher broke the gag order and spoke with the newspaper. “I didn’t like how it was going,” he said.The teacher admires the superintendent. “I feel she’s done a very good job and a big improvement over the last superintendent,” he said. “This issue is a minor blemish on what otherwise is a very good and very well-run office. Top to bottom, I am impressed with her.”
But he is also confident that he is well within his rights to talk to The Chronicle. “As union members, we have the right to talk to anyone we want to, as long as it’s not confidential,” he said. “We can express our opinion. You can talk without fear of retaliation.”The local teachers’ union, the Chester Teachers’ Association, has been no help at all, according to this teacher.“I would like the union president to explain to the administration what our rights are — that we have the right to talk to anyone we want to,” he said. “It’s not based on who they’re happy with and that type of stuff.”The local union president, Pamela Kavenagh, is also Chester Academy’s school psychologist, so she would not return our call. She could, however, comment through Carl Korn, the United Federation of Teachers spokesperson. Korn called Kavenagh and reported back that the Chester Teachers’ Association supports free speech, free press, and free association, but is disturbed by the content of the online comments posted on The Chronicle’s Web site (see Background, right).
The teacher who spoke with The Chronicle has a different take on the unsavory Web comments.“You ignore them,” he said. “You can’t go around getting people not to talk about you, and you can’t go around focusing on things you can’t control. We have more important things to do. I believe it’s a minor inconvenience. So they say nasty things about you — it happens all the time.”By cutting off contact with the newspaper, “I would definitely say there’s a loss,” he said. “You’re not going to get all the good stuff that’s out there in the schools, and there’s a lot of good stuff. If you do anything that’s extraordinary, or a kid does something extraordinary, you want to hype it up. It can be something in class, or some kind of extracurricular activity, or some sort of contest we’ve done well in — all-county chorus, band, speeches.”The school board president and superintendent did not return calls for comment.
Parents feel a loss, fear repercussionsThat sense of loss is echoed by parents who used to read about their kids in the paper.“I used to open The Chronicle and see Chester students in there regularly,” one mother said. “Maybe I’d see a picture my daughter drew, or a picture of her in her Halloween outfit. We looked forward to getting The Chronicle on Friday. I don’t rush to my mailbox anymore.”All three moms who spoke to us did so on condition of anonymity. Even though parents were never told not to talk to the newspaper, they also fear retaliation from what they see as a vengeful administration.
“I have two kids who have to get through the system,” said the mother. “I don’t want to cause any waves. I don’t want their names to show up in the paper, their teachers to have any kind of grudge. We’re talking about Helen Anne Livingston. She’s the top of the food chain.”“I really think that this is dividing the community,” said another mother. “I almost feel people are forced to take sides. You’re either pro-Chronicle or you’re pro-Livingston. The further this is prolonged, I think it’s going to divide the community.”This mother worries that the hostile environment will make it difficult to hold onto good teachers, and that taxpayers will be less likely to approve the next budget if they haven’t read about anything happening in the schools.“It’s too strong a word to say dictator, but that’s almost the way it is,” said a third mother. “They’re intimidating to me because my child will suffer for this. I feel intimidated to speak out publicly because if I stand in front of the board and say there’s a problem, then the board should be able to correct it. But they’re doing it in reverse. The board answers to Helen Anne, which is ridiculous.”
