Over at BlueOregon, there’s a post criticizing Willamette Week for running with the Merkley story even though it was (supposedly) “sole-sourced.”
The implication is that Beth Slovic somehow has breached journalistic ethics by going with a story on the word of one person. What the author glosses over is that my information was pretty much confirmed by Merkley’s campaign manager. I say “pretty much,” because what Merkley’s manager did was the classic obfuscation non-denial, which in journalist circles is pretty much always considered a confirmation with damage control.
So, what Beth Slovic did was check out a source’s claim, and have it confirmed. Nothing unusual there.
In the comments section of the post, one guy (anonymous, but almost certainly a Merkley campaign staffer, based on the extensiveness of the post) takes me to task for revealing supposedly private information. He wrote:
"Fact #6 - Rob Kremer has held himself out as someone trustworthy enough to hold public office in the field of education. I can't think of an area where respecting confidentiality is more important than the field of education. To date, no one has written a story about this egregious violation of privacy by a very public person. (In addition, every parent and student at this charter school should ask if their privacy will be thrown under a bus if the school finds it useful at a later time.")
I love this! “Egregious violation of privacy!” Oh the outrage!
I seem to remember when I was “holding myself out as someone trustworthy enough to hold public office in the field of education,” that I was constantly hammered by the Teachers Union and my opponent for the fact that my kids were in private school. The implication being that it was hypocritical for someone to run for Sup’t of Public Instruction whose kids attended private school. (Of course, nobody could imagine that perhaps it was our family’s experiences with our public schools that both drove us to private schools AND motivated me to run for that office to improve the shortcomings we saw firsthand.)
But I didn’t think it was off base for that to be pointed out, and I dealt with that question many times on the campaign trail.
So I find it pretty funny that there would be so much outrage that Merkley has to defend the same question.
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6 comments:
I agree this is much ado about nothing. In your place, Rob, I would have treated the inquiry or application as confidential.
The reaction to Slovic's story showcases the power dynamic that has brought PPS and other large districts to a state of dysfunctionality.
Successful enterprises require a high degree of cooperation and consensus among stakeholders. State and local politicians are forced to swear allegiance to and provide bailouts to larger districts such as Portland to keep public employee unions on their side.
Rob, why isn't your action a violation of FERPA - the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act?
When I worked at Lewis & Clark College, the FERPA rules were drilled into our heads over and over and over.
FERPA is so strong that a football coach can't disclose anything about a player's injury - unless that player consents first.
p.s. Learn more about FERPA here.
Kari:
That's a legitimate question.
First, I don't work for Arthur Academy and am not on the board or in any other official position with the school, nor was I ever, other than helping them get started. I knew that Merkley had applied because that was during the start-up phase of the Portland Arthur Academy, and it came to my attention at the time.
But enrollment records aren't covered under FERPA anyway. Districts tell us this all the time, as they require charter schools to give lists of who has enrolled.
Which school a child attends is simply not a secret, as a read of any high school sports coverage will attest.
Kari:
That's a legitimate question.
First, I don't work for Arthur Academy and am not on the board or in any other official position with the school, nor was I ever, other than helping them get started. I knew that Merkley had applied because that was during the start-up phase of the Portland Arthur Academy, and it came to my attention at the time.
But enrollment records aren't covered under FERPA anyway. Districts tell us this all the time, as they require charter schools to give lists of who has enrolled.
Which school a child attends is simply not a secret, as a read of any high school sports coverage will attest.
Full Disclosure: I built every website for the candidates whose ass I kiss on Blue Oregon, but I speak only for myself.
Kari Chisholm
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