Fairfax County Administrator's Wife, Candy Tisdadt, Sounds Off Against Student Over Snow Day

The internet is in an uproar after word has spread about a situation in Fairfax County, VA involving Candy Tisdadt, a school administrator's wife and a 17 year old student. As reported in the Washington Post, 17-year-old student Devraj "Dave" Kori, a senior at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, VA called the home of a school administrator to ask why they had not closed the school for the day due to a snowstorm. The administrator, Dean Tisdadt, was not at home and his wife, Candy Tisdadt, responded to the message by leaving an angry voicemail of her own for Kori. Kori took exception to her message and posted the recording on both Facebook and Youtube along with the name and phone number of the administrator and his wife so that other people could call them back and voice their own opinion. The Youtube recording, along with a transcript is available on dc1st.com and contains phrases such as "snotty nosed little brats" which have sparked debate over the propriety of her actions.

The strong reaction from the public seems to stem from several issues and the public seems to be split over who is more at fault, Kori or Tisdadt. The question of who is more in the wrong really depends on which issue you consider of the utmost importance. First, there is the expectation of privacy by the Tisdadts. Most of those people who claim that Kori is the greater offender point to the fact that he should not have called the administrator's home in the first place. The more appropriate action would obviously be to call the school's office and try to take the issue up with someone there or leave a message if he could not reach someone immediately. Kori's excuse for why his behavior was appropriate is that the Tisdadts had a listed phone number and therefore it is within the right of anyone to call that number to try to reach them. Many people commenting on the situation online have also pointed to the fact that Dean Tisdadt is a public servant and therefore should be available to the public at all times as a part of his job. This is a statement that is difficult to back up because many jobs (police, firemen, etc) would fall under the category of public servant, however they would not expect phone calls at their home asking for assistance. Although Dean Tisdadt is a public servant, the nature of his job would seem to mean that he should be available to the public during business hours and at his office, not necessarily at his home.

The second issue in this situation is regarding Candy Tisdadt's actions in responding the way that she did to Kori's phone message. Most would agree that she overreacted by leaving the angry message for the student and resorting to name calling. Whether her reaction was simply over the top or cause for her husband's employment to be in question is open for debate. It would certainly have been simpler for everyone involved if she had simply deleted the message or passed it along to her husband to deal with, however should her actions be considered a reflection on her husband to the point of affecting his employment? This is the question that is currently being discussed at length in online forums of every kind.

The final issue is Kori's response to the voicemail of posting it online along with the Tisdadt's names and phone number and calling for the public to respond. The Tisdadts have stated that this was harassment because they have since received a large number of both prank calls and calls from angry people regarding the issue. Dean Tisdadt has stated that this whole situation has been the cause of "considerable grief and embarrassment for his wife". Some people feel that Kori should be punished for his behavior, but the school seems to be staying out of it for now. While I believe that most would agree the initial phone call to the Tisdadt home can be considered ill-advised, it was an isolated incident and probably could not be called harassment, however by involving thousands of internet users and inciting further calls to their home a harassment charge could be considered based on those actions. Kori claims that he was only exercising his freedom of speech and blames any different interpretation on a "generation gap", stating in an email to Fairfax County schools that "People in my generation view privacy differently. We are the cellphone generation. We are used to being reached at all times". With sites such as Youtube and Facebook gaining popularity by the day, it seems likely that this will not be the last situation in which people's right to privacy is pitted against the right to free speech.