Adam,
Hi, remember me?
Believe it or not, I had my letter finally printed out and ready to go (and it will still go out with a tiny check which is all I can afford), when I learned that Stanford was seeing a lawyer about me. I learned from my student teaching school.
Events, as I understand them:
- Program director "became aware" of my blog. I put it in quotes because I've mentioned my blog frequently in class, so it wasn't a secret. I have no idea how they "learned" about it short of my telling them, which I did.
- They emailed the principal of the school where I'm student teaching. The first letter said that they were seeking legal advice. I'm not sure what else it said.
- They emailed the principal a week later, asking for a "second chance" for me. The principal tells me she had done nothing between the first and second email, so is unclear what they are asking about.
When I took the blog public (which just meant not keeping it super secret), I reviewed other teacher/student blogs to see what they did. Most of them use their school names and appear to use student names. I would never use student names, but did mention the two schools that I've been teaching at.
The principal at my student teaching school was initially worried I was trying to get a book deal. Sequoia is in the same district that had the "Dangerous Minds" mess (woman taught there for two years, wrote a book, got a big movie deal, the school got nothing). I told the principal I had no such plans, and if they would like to have me sign something (lord knows what) I would. I also told her that I was not taking out $60K in loans on the off-chance that I'd get a book deal, that I was here to get my credential, that I love teaching at Sequoia (which was my first choice as a placement) and I just like to write and tell stories and wanted to have a record of my year. Moreover, I had never identified students by name (or any identifiable features) and have never said anything negative about the school.
She agreed that there was nothing negative about it, and in fact said it was pretty good (which is why she was suspicious of a book deal--flattering, I guess!). She asked me to change the school name (which I've already done). She told me that Stanford "would be meeting with me" today. I'm reluctant to be called on the carpet at their pleasure, given that they blindsided me with Sequoia, and I'd like to hear from you first. So I'm going to skip class today because of some emergency or another.
If there's a problem with this blog and you think I should lock it away entirely, could you let me know? Stanford has said nothing about not having blogs or the like. I'm not a researcher, these aren't my subjects, and I honestly don't see why I'm not allowed to blog about my life at school. I want to stress that it's not a critical blog; while I disagree with things, I'm not attacking Stanford. I can understand if you think I'm a moron who, having escaped one bullet, is trying to jump in front of another, but honest to god, Adam, once I realized that I wasn't going to have any difficulty with Stanford, I never thought about the blog being sensitive at all. So if I'm stupid, it's the stupid of a person who lives online.
Here's how I see it: I'm furious. I'm angry that Stanford would talk to the school and a lawyer without consulting me. I'm furious that they still haven't told me about it and are apparently planning on blindsiding me about it. They have effectively screwed any chance I have of getting hired at Sequoia, which was one of the schools I was interested in, by making a big fuss about me and making it clear that they were seeing a lawyer about me. They could have contacted me first, said they had a problem, insisted I talk to Sequoia about it, and allowed me to handle it. I suspect that the lawyer they went to told them (again) that they were dreaming if they thought a student's blog was a big deal, given that they dropped all talk of a lawyer (that's the principal's impression and as she described it, I agree).
But I don't know if I'm right. Perhaps the thousands of teacher blogs out there are all in violation of a rule and I'm just the one to be the example. I'll kill the blog if so.
So could you give me some advice on this? And, like I said, the letter's on the way, which is small thanks for your help.