Candy Tisdadt and Devraj "Dave" S. Kori

It's a new world.

Not all that long ago, an individual's angry phone call would not have been heard by thousands or millions of people.

Thanks to the Internet, we get to hear and watch people, unknowns and celebrities, flip out.

Is that a good thing?

I guess it might make people behave more responsibly, knowing that they could be held accountable for their behavior.

Warning: Anything you say and do might be scrutinized by millions.

In any event, because of two phone calls, people all over the country are talking about Candy Tisdadt and Dave Kori.

It began with a little bit of snow and snowballed from there.

It started with Thursday's snowfall, estimated at about three inches near Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke. On his lunch break, Lake Braddock senior Devraj "Dave" S. Kori, 17, used a listed home phone number to call Dean Tistadt, chief operating officer for the county system, to ask why he had not closed the schools. Kori left his name and phone number and got a message later in the day from Tistadt's wife.

Kori took Tistadt's message, left on his cellphone, and posted an audio link on a Facebook page he had created after he got home from school called "Let them know what you think about schools not being cancelled." The Web page listed Dean Tistadt's work and home numbers.

The Tistadts received dozens more calls that day and night, Dean Tistadt said. Most were hang-ups, but at one point, they were coming every five minutes -- one at 4 a.m., he said. At the same time, his wife's response was spreading through cyberspace.

Within a day, hundreds of people had listened to her message, which was also posted on YouTube. A friend of Kori's sent it to a local television news station, and it was aired on the nightly news program. As of yesterday, more than 9,000 people had clicked on the YouTube link. Hundreds of comments had been posted on the Facebook and YouTube pages, largely about what constitutes proper and polite requests for public information from students.

A Facebook page? That's inviting a firestorm.

From WGHP:

Fairfax County, Va., Public School officials are responding to phone calls and e-mails to a school administrator's home, some threatening, after a decision to keep schools open despite snow in the forecast last week.

A school system spokesman tells us that the names of the student offenders will be turned over to police. It appears the home of one administrator, Dean Tisdadt, took the brunt of the angry calls, and his wife became so upset she called back one student with a fiery response of her own.

...A school system spokesman say that the administrator's wife's reaction was understandable.

Here's what Candy had to say to Dave:

MRS. DEAN TISDADT: And don't you ever call here again. My husband has been at the office since 6:30 this morning. So don't you even suggest that he purposely didn't answer his phone.

He was out almost every single night of the week at meetings for snotty-nosed little brats. And he may not have called you, but it's not because he's home. It's because it snowed. Get over it kid and go to school.

The school system spokesman's statement that Candy's reaction was understandable has some validity.

However, understandable is not necessarily acceptable.

My take:

Candy used shockingly poor judgment. She completely lost control. Dean can't be too happy with all this attention.

Kori and the others who called to harass the Tisdadts proved Candy 100% correct in labeling them as snotty-nosed little brats.


Dave Kori