Teacher Scandal Summary of Facts

&#091 LAST UPDATE: 10/8/2004 -- 9:23 AM CST &#093

As far as I’ve seen, there have been four several documents going around about this scandal so far. This is going to be a bit of a long post, so you’ll have to follow it down into the extended entry, but I’ve tried to cull out the important bits.

1. The original article Teacher defends pic of president from the Home News Tribune (Hereinafter “HNT1″) [Story broken by Michelle Malkin.] This one was put out Friday (10/3) morning.
2. Next thing found was a Press Release (PDF) from the South Brunswick Township Public Scools (Hereinafter “SBS1″), (Plaintext here). The PDF was originally sent to me by Eric. The PDF has a creation time of 10/3/2004 6:54:15 PM.
3. Third was a short news report by Ken Rosato with 7Online / WABC (Hereinafter “WABC1″) — this PROBABLY ran on the evening news on Sunday.
4. Most recently, Steve Malzberg has an article at NewsMax (Hereinafer “NM1″).
5. UPDATE Ia: I found an article from the New York Post (courtesy of a link at Tolkien Online Forums) which doesn’t seem to add TOO much, but I’ve added it below. Interestingly, it seems to be BACK DATED to October 2. If anyone can verify that this was, indeed, published on the 2nd, I’d love to hear it.^[#] (As you might expect, further references to this will be to NYP1)
6. UPDATE IIa: The Home News Tribune (publisher of HNT1) is running a follow-up article on Tuesday (10/5) which can be read here. (We’ll call it HNT2). Facts not otherwise accounted for covered below.
7. UPDATE IIIa: Another blog covering the story, Just On The Other Side, has gotten a comment from an individual claiming to be “Ryan Bryce”, a student in Ms. Pillai-Diaz’s classroom. I’m calling shenanigans, though — seems far too advanced in terms of sentence structure and organization to have actually been written by a middle schooler. Could be wrong, but I’m not betting on it. (Hereinafter RB1)
   
   UPDATE IV: According to Allan at Just On The Other Side, the IP address of the poster resolves to New Jersey Comcast. UPDATE VI: I’ve got more analysis here.
8. UPDATE VIIa: The Home News Tribune tossed out the latest round of new information today (10/6) — it looks like regional AP picked up the story yesterday, resulting in a hundred-ish google news results for the article. This one looks like new stuff, though. The article, Teacher Uses Day for Talks will be HNT3.
9. UPDATE VIIIa: A blogger got ahold of Shiba Pillai-Diaz for an interview. Resulting post can be found at The Education Wonks. (Reference: EDW1)
10. UPDATE IXa: The New York Post has what will probably be the last we hear of this story for a while. It’s reporting that Pillai-Diaz and the Board of Education have reached an agreement and that she’ll transfer to a nearby school. (Reference: NYP2)

I’ve gone back through all of them and while the three news articles seem to be highly conflicting with SBS1, there really aren’t that many facts that have been questioned.

1. Facts From HNT1:
   1. She walked out of her job — was not fired.
   2. Photo of GWB has been hanging in her classroom since the beginning of the year.
   3. Issue arose after parents emailed an assistant principal.
   4. Pallai-Diaz was accused of “suppressing free speech because [she] refused to talk to pupils about why the color photo hung in the room.”^[#]
   5. Pallai-Diaz makes the claim that she doesn’t talk politics in the classroom.
   6. We find out that the photo hung next to posters of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
   7. Issue came to a head at a “back-to-school” gathering where parents allegedly confronted Pallai-Diaz about the photo.
   8. Friday morning the assistant principal asked her to remove the photo — he is quoted as saying “If you care about your job, you’ll take the picture down.”
   9. Principal Warfel quoted as saying “You’ve caused more disruption, hatred, and anger than anyone I’ve ever known.” (Both quotes as relayed by Pallai-Diaz.)
   10. Ther is no policy addressing the issue of pictures of Presidents in the classroom. (According to the President of the Board of Ed.)
   11. Registered Democrats outnumber Registered Republicans in the township 7,500 to 5,000 (out of 40,000 residents).
   12. Pallai-Diaz claims never to have expressed support for the President or Republican Party.
2. Facts from SBS1
   1. School administration began receiving complaints from Students and Parents that Pallai-Diaz was engaging in partisan politics. This is, of course, in direct conflict to Pallai-Diaz’s comments above (1e, 1l)
   2. Gary McCartney alleges that Pallai-Diaz made the comments to the students that she was “glad they were not old enough to vote” and that she told students “you should be ashamed to be a Democrat.”^[#]
   3. McCartney alleges that Pallai-Diaz called the bulletin board a “Personal Bulletin board” — this is not reflected in any of Pallai-Diaz’s statements. No comment is made as to why she might have posters of the Constitution (et al) on a “personal” bulletin board.
   4. There was also a picture of the President’s dog, the Oval Office, and what McCartney describes as “other presidential artifacts” on the bulletin board as well. One might note that none of the things yet alleged to have been on the bulletin board are in any way partisan. The President’s dog is starting to get into a grey area, but there are lots of legitimate reasons for that one, too.
   5. Pallai-Diaz placed a stuffed elephant on a classroom cabinet, but later removed it “because of student comments.” (According to McCartney) This wouldn’t necessarily take away from Pallai-Diaz’s assertion that she’s did put politics in the classroom, but it doesn’t do much to HELP that case, either^[#]
   6. On Friday Morning Pallai-Diaz was asked to remove bulletin board materials because they were “contributing to an ongoing disruption of the teaching-learning environment.” Pallai-Diaz refused.
   7. “Back-to-School Night Program” referenced by McCartney as well, though no specifics are given… only that the confrontation took place. This altercation is cited as the reason administrators chose to step in for the final time.
   8. “At no time was she told to leave, asked to leave or given authorization to leave.” — this is consistent with her “walking out” as opposed to being “kicked out.”
   9. “The South Brunswick School community is enormously respectful of the Office of the President of the United States, President Bush and the democratic process for choosing our President. Anyone trying to suggest the contrary has the worst of intentions. Under other circumstances, the display of a picture of the President would have been viewed as completely appropriate and uncontroversial.” Emphasis mine. It’s a second-hand ad hominem, because that’s precisely what Pallai-Diaz is alleging. Not exactly “press release” material.
3. Facts from WABC1
   1. In this report, the assertion is made that the parents who confronted Pallai-Diaz (1g, 2g) insisted that she put up a picture of John Kerry, or take down the picture of President Bush.
   2. The report describes the location as “a montage of Presidents.” Thus far, we’ve not heard that other President’s were present on the wall.
   3. There’s an additional quote from Warfel (conveyed by Pallai-Diaz) stating that she had “disrupted the school with her ‘inflammatory politics.’”
   4. Pallai-Diaz insists that there was no political intent to the photo or anything else on the bulletin board.
   5. The story on the walk-out changes in this report, however. “School officials would not talk on camera but insist nobody here has been fired. To that, Ms. Pillai-Diaz asks ‘what does it mean, then, when your boss asks you to hand over the keys and kicks you out of the building?’ — this is the first mention of her being fired/kicked out/asked to leave so far. This is definitely inconsistent with the facts presented so far.
4. Facts from NM1
   1. NewsMax reiterates the claim from 3b, that there were other Presidents on the wall.
   2. We find out, though this was probably an obvious consequence, that the teacher “faces dismissal for insubordination.”
   3. The NewsMax article quotes Mark Daniels (Ass’t Principal) and Jim Warfel (Principal) as saying “We decided that there was a very destructive atmosphere in your classroom and that you’re going around the school spreading your political views.” I can only imagine that this was alleged by Pallai-Diaz.
   4. Pallai-Diaz once again asserts that she leaves her politics at home, and that she “wouldn’t go near it with a ten-foot pole.”
   5. The plot thickens as we find out that there was also some printing from Ben Franklin’s printing press. How big was this bulletin board, anyway? So far we’ve got two posters, the infringing photo, a picture of the oval office and the First Canine, pictures of other presidents, “other presidential artifacts,” and stuff from Franklin’s printing press? Christ almighty… and this is a bulletin board that Pallai-Diaz describes as “small” in WABC1.
   6. The quote from 1i is expanded in the NewsMax Article: Principal Warfel is now additionally quoted as saying “Get yourself and get out of the building.”
   7. Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) has allegedly offered to help Pallai-Diaz if she calls his office.
   8. He’s quoted as saying “If it’s just a straight-up picture of George Bush and Laura then I don’t understand the issue at all.” — of course, SBS1 claims that that’s not the entirety of the issue.
5. Facts from NYP1 UPDATE Ib
   1. We find out the other Presidents^[#] another President who are allegedly on the “small” bulletin board: George Washington. Benjamin Franklin was also on the board.
   2. This had been pointed out in other articles, but I had not yet referenced it. Pillai-Diaz volunteered at the RNC in New York this year.
   3. Pillai-Diaz apparently notified [Assistant Principal] Daniels during a break at the “Back-to-School” night program, whereupon he defended her right to have the picture.
   4. Further quotes from Daniels (”If you care about your job…”) and Principal Warfel (”caused more disruption, hatred… get out”) are echoed in this piece.
   5. Here we get another twist, also: apparently Superintendent McCartney advised Pillai-Diaz not to go to the press, stating that, if she did, it would be “beyond [his] ability to help”
6. Facts from HNT2 UPDATE IIb
   1. We’re seeing more of the “get your stuff and get out” — which, as I noted in NM1, wasn’t mentioned until some of the later news articles.
   2. Pillai-Diaz hired an attorney, apparently in retaliation for SBS1 — the school district’s statement.
   3. There has been a few comments about Pillai-Diaz’s “aggressive effort” to get this story in the spotlight. This doesn’t really help us. Getting national media coverage would be useful for her case regardless of whether or not she was treated wrongfully.
   4. McCartney, according to the article, said that if Pillai-Diaz stopped making political statements she could return to teaching. Isn’t this like the “When did you stop beating your wife?” line of questioning? Does her return indicate that she has “stopped?” Does her lack of return indicate that she hasn’t “stopped?”
   5. An unnamed teacher at the school has displayed a picture of Bush for four years “without incident.”
   6. The growing poster marches on: a picture of Air Force One and ANOTHER Poster, with signatures from all of the presidents is now attributed to the bulletin board.
   7. Quoth the article: “Pillai-Diaz’ display, accompanied by her rhetoric, he said, ‘”took it out of the realm of education and made the presentation appear partisan to many of our students and parents.’” — I have to wonder if these students would know what “partisan” was unless their parents had told them so.
   8. McCartney “bristled” (their word) at the suggestion that this was political, and pointed out that there were several staunch Republican teachers.^[#]
   9. This article does a DECENT job of hitting the highlights of the already published articles, but doesn’t really bring much new information to the table.
   10. UPDATE V: Missed this the first time around: “Pillai-Diaz denied saying anything of the sort. ‘You would have to be incredibly stupid to say those things to a student,’ she said, adding ‘I don’t talk politics with the kids.’” — I’d like to know how, exactly, she denied it, but I guess we’ll have to take the reporter’s word for it.
7. Facts from RB1 UPDATE IIIb
   1. Googling “Ryan Bryce” returns nothing of interest and no contact information was left.
   2. The allegation is made that Pillai-Diaz’s political affiliation had everything to do with her firing.
   3. We find out that the elephant was, in fact, plush, red, white, and blue.
   4. Use of the word “compatriots” and a middle schooler picking a political party is a bit sketchy. Sounds like mommy or daddy wrote the letter if, indeed, it came from that close to the issue.
   5. “Ryan Bryce” alleges that Pillai-Diaz called him a “loser” and that the incident was not isolated.
   6. This alleged middle schooler doesn’t think that Pillai-Diaz — a sixth year teacher — has the “skills, maturity, and overall competence to handle a class of middle school students.”
   7. To quote the comment, “her teaching methods were archaic and proven to be less effective than the more modern lesson plans encouraged by the school” — I’m not sure how they could’ve been “proven” less effective in such a short period of time — she was a new teacher at the school and this all came to a head at a “Back-to-School” function.
   8. Bottom line: I don’t buy it. I wouldn’t be surprised if the IP address wasn’t even from the New Jersey area. UPDATE IV: IP Address resolves to New Jersey Comcast. This absolutely reeks of a (poor) hatchet job^[#].
   9. UPDATE VI: I’ve got more analysis here.
8. Facts from HNT3 UPDATE VIIb
   1. Story suggests that Pillai-Diaz has not been teaching since she left the school on friday.
   2. The opening paragraph shows a slight change in stance by the Home News Tribune: “[she] claims she was reprimanded for having a photo of the president…”. Emphasis mine.
   3. Apparently Pillai-Diaz, her attorney, and Superintendent McCartney met until late Tuesday evening, and would not talk to the media afterward.
   4. The principal met with Pillai-Diaz’s students yesterday about the situation. You can bet that he chose his words carefully.
   5. Michelle Donahue, a parent, corroborates Pillai-Diaz’s claim that parents suggested she put up a picture of John Kerry — though the parent in the story doesn’t say that the parents told her to take down the picture of Bush.
   6. Donahue also states that it was at the Back-to-School night function that Pillai-Diaz claimed it was her “personal bulletin board.”
   7. Donahue alleges that her daughter has been complaining since the beginning of the school year that Pillai-Diaz has not allowed them to voice their opinions in class^[#].
   8. Apparently NYP1 was, indeed, run on Saturday — no backdating, as I suggested might be the case in Source 5 (Update Ia).
   9. Terry Collins, personnel director for Pillai-Diaz’s last job, said that they “never had any problems” with her.
9. Facts from EDW1 UPDATE VIIIb
   1. Pillai-Diaz is slated ot return to the classroom next Wednesday (10/13).
   2. She describes the school administration as cooperative.
   3. Apparently the limelight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be — Pillai-Diaz says that she’s ready to be out of the public eye.
   4. During the interview Pillai-Diaz insisted that the media sought her out, not vice versa. This seems to run contrary to a report I’d previously read, but I can’t find it at the moment. Maybe I made that up.
10. Facts from NYP2 UPDATE IXb
    1. Pillai-Diaz will transfer to the nearby Brooks Crossing Elementary School — a few miles from Crossroads South.
    2. She’ll, obviously, be teaching younger kids than she was before.
    3. There’s been no resolution to the allegations made by Pillai-Diaz or the School Board. There probably won’t be for a while, though, as I’m sure both parties signed confidentiality / non-disclosure / don’t go running your mouth to the media agreements.

So that leaves us with a bit of a he-said-she-said, but there are lots of things that are not necessarily in question. Both sides keep speaking to a different set of facts, and almost ignoring the others.