Editor's Notebook: Confusion Over Washington Principal's Letter to Parents

In this age of constant communication, we often find ourselves in many situations journalism school never prepared us for. But this afternoon when it came to my attention that Dr. Andrew Perry, the principal of Washington School, sent out an email attributing a story to Patch, I was completly stunned.

As you'll see below, in the body of an email that was forward to me, Dr. Perry appears to advocate voting for the budget. Here's where it gets tricky: Dr. Perry attributes an exchange between parents and CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric to an interview in Patch. In my travels to polling places today I have never seen Ms. Couric and her crew, so therefore could never spoken to her. We find Dr. Perry's claim completly untrue and sent him an email this afternoon asking him to send another email to Washington parents letting them know that we had no part in any interview with Ms. Couric.

Here is the email that Dr. Perry sent to Washington parents first and then below see the email I sent to Dr. Perry. Due to technical issues a Patch logo and picture of Ms. Couric that Dr. Perry included in his email cannot appear in the body of this story. I have included both in the photo stream.

My email to Dr. Perry was copied to Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan, Interim Board Secretary/Business Administrator Vincent Yaniro, BOE School/Community Relations Coordinator Lorre Korecky, BOE President Julia Walker, members of the Board of Education and Patch Union County Regional Editor David Chmiel.

Copy of Dr. Perry's email, copied from the email forwarded to me. The information of the person who forwarded this email to me has been redacted to protect their identity.

-----Original Message-----
From: ANDREW PERRY <APERRY@westfieldnjk12.org>
Sent: Wed, Apr 27, 2011 11:14 am
Subject: Parent Note: Patch.com - The Vote on the Budget

Patch.com ran into Katie Couric this morning conducting exit polls at various elementary schools. She shared with us one of her interviews.  

Couric: How did you vote on the school budget today?

Maggie: I voted “no”. I’m tired of high taxes every year. My federal income taxes increase, my social security deductions increase, my state taxes increase, the sales tax increases, I pay more for garbage collection, my heating bill is higher, gas prices are higher – I’m just tired of everyone raising their costs and I’m going to let them know.

Couric: So you hope that voting no on the school budget will send a message to everyone that taxes are too high.

Maggie: What other election is there where I can vote yes or no on a budget. This is the only one. You bet I’m going to let them know how I feel.

Couric: Are there other issues that affected your vote?

Maggie: Absolutely. We’re tired of all the shenanigans that go on behind the scenes. Why can’t the board of education present a budget to the public that is honest and shows where money is being spent? We don’t like all of the shady deals made with the teachers and administrators – approving contracts for outrageous pay increases, free health care, summers off.

Couric: Does the board of education have public meetings or web sites where budget information is presented?

Maggie: They probably do, but we’re much too busy to go to those meetings.

Couric: Has there been a work stoppage or teacher strike since you’ve lived in Westfield?

Maggie: No way.

Couric: What do you think will happen if the school budget is defeated?

Maggie: It will go to the Town Council. They’ll slash back programs so our taxes will be less.

Couric: What do you think will be affected in the budget?

Maggie: Class size will go up. When I was in third grade we had 38 kids. There is no reason why a third grade teacher can’t teach 30 kids. That’s a lot better than I had it. And we had no intramural sports in middle school when I went to Edison. Let them focus on academics. We don’t need guidance counselors at elementary schools. People should just “buck up” if they are having problems and stop bleeding the system dry. Pencils worked just fine when I was in school. Who needs Smartboards, document cameras, laptop carts, netbooks, high speed internet, voice over internet phones, web sites, email, electronic card catalogs? Kids will get these things when they enter the business world.

Couric: How long have you lived in Westfield?

Maggie: We moved here in 1984 from Staten Island. Our kids went through the Westfield Schools, went to fine colleges, and are doing very well, thank you.

Couric: Has the value of your house increased since you’ve moved here?

Maggie: You can say that again! Our house has doubled in value every 6 years since we moved here. It’s our nest egg for retirement.

Couric: What made you move to Westfield in 1984?

Maggie: The reputation of the schools. It’s a great town, with great services, and everyone gets along. We had to save for a long time to afford to buy a home in Westfield. We wanted our kids to have the best education – the kind of experiences that our parents couldn’t afford for us. As a matter of fact, our son moved his family to Westfield just 3 years ago. He couldn’t wait to move away from Westfield when he left for college, but once he got married and had a couple of little kids, he realized he wanted to live in a community with great schools – just like he remembered as a kid.

Couric: How do you think your son will vote on the school budget today?

Maggie: I’m sure he is going to vote “yes”. He wants small class sizes, modern technology, Spanish and saxophone lessons for his kids, and he wants the value of his home to continue to go up. He doesn’t have the long-range view that we have.

Couric: What are his experiences with the teachers that his kids have had so far in elementary school?

Maggie: Oh, they have been great. You can’t believe it. They email – email – the homework home every night. We can go on their web site and see pictures and videos of our grandchildren’s projects and work. We just saw the cutest Sing Along the other day. Those kids love to sing. And what they learn about music and art. We have some really sharp grandchildren. No better place to raise kids than right here in Westfield.

Couric: Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Maggie. You’ve certainly made your point of view clear. This is Katie Couric, reporting from Westfield, NJ, where voters are going to the polls to decide what education will look like for their children this coming year.

Copy of my email to Dr. Perry. This was sent at 4:29 p.m. from johnc@patch.com to aperry@westfieldnjk12.org.

Dr. Perry,

I have been forwarded an email which you sent to Washington School parents at 11:14 a.m. on April 27, under the subject line “Parent Note: Patch.com – The Vote on the Budget.” The email was sent from your official public school email address. (I have copied the email below for you.)

On viewing the email it appears that you have written this email in an attempt to sway votes on the school budget in today’s election. This can be construed as a form of electioneering, which can be defined as taking an active part in seeking votes for a candidate or party, or in this case, to pass the proposed school budget. In the email you reference an article in Patch and use the trademarked Patch logo.

The article you reference did not appear in Patch and to the best of my knowledge Katie Couric was not in Westfield this morning talking to voters. It can easily be construed in this email that Patch is taking a side on the budget vote.

Dr. Perry, I am sure that you understand Patch is an objective news outlet. To that end, we do not take sides in any election, even in a non-partisan election that includes public question referenda, which the school budget vote is.

I am sure that this is simply an innocent mistake, but must insist on two immediate actions:

Please forward this email to the parents of Washington School so they know that Patch did not play a part in the email that you sent out this morning, did not write the article you reference and does not endorse your email or a particular vote on the school budget.

Please don't ever again use Patch, Patch logos or any other content that you try to link to Patch in anything that could be construed as against or strict and unconditional codes of journalistic conduct. If you do this again, we will be forced to contact Patch legal counsel in this regard.

Dr. Perry you owe us an explanation on why you attributed this story to us. Since I never saw Ms. Couric nor let alone interviewed her, I am confused why you attributed this to us, let alone say it appeared on our site.

In order to make sure there is no confusion about this issue, I will be posting this email on our site this afternoon.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

John Celock

Cc: Margaret Dolan, Superintendent of Schools

Vincent Yaniro, Interim Board Secretary/Business Administrator

Lorre Korecky, Schools/Community Relations Coordinator

Julia Walker, President of the Board of Education

Members of the Board of Education

David Chmiel, Union County Regional Editor