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www.miamiherald.com/news/bre...4162.html
BY PATRICIA MAZZEI
pmazzei@MiamiHerald.com
The Broward Teachers Union accused the school district Thursday of intercepting hundreds of e-mails sent by school employees to School Board members since March -- without board members' knowledge.
Instead of being delivered to board members' inboxes, the e-mails -- about teacher raises, use of federal stimulus money and employee contract negotiations -- went to a ``quarantined folder'' in an e-mail server, the union says.
BTU lawyers sent Board Attorney Edward Marko and Board Chairwoman Maureen Dinnen a cease and desist letter Thursday threatening legal action if e-mail blocking is not stopped by Oct. 26. The letter says each blocked e-mail is a violation of the board member's and the sender's constitutional rights under U.S. and Florida laws.
The accusation comes at a time when the district faces increased scrutiny after last month's arrest of board member Beverly Gallagher in a federal corruption sting. Board members have admitted the scandal has cost some of the public's faith in the district.
``Considering everything that has been happening recently with Broward schools, and now this, it's no wonder voters and taxpayers are losing trust in our district's leaders,'' BTU President Pat Santeramo said in a statement. ``District officials appear willing to break whatever laws necessary to keep their house of cards standing, but it's falling all around them nonetheless.''
The school district did not immediately comment about the issue, though a spokesman said officials were working on a response.
BTU, with help from lawyers from the national American Federation of Teachers, began investigating in March after two board members said they did not receive hundreds of messages asking to increase teacher salaries.
The union says the district also intercepted e-mails from BTU stewards in April asking the federal stimulus dollars be used to save jobs. E-mails about contract negotiations in August were also blocked, according to BTU.
Thursday's letter says BTU is considering legal action against the School Board's technology use policy, which says use of electronic services ``shall be properly monitored, and to the extent reasonably possible, users of school sponsored telecommunication services and networks shall be protected from harassment or unsafe, unwanted, or unsolicited contact.''
BY PATRICIA MAZZEI
pmazzei@MiamiHerald.com
The Broward Teachers Union accused the school district Thursday of intercepting hundreds of e-mails sent by school employees to School Board members since March -- without board members' knowledge.
Instead of being delivered to board members' inboxes, the e-mails -- about teacher raises, use of federal stimulus money and employee contract negotiations -- went to a ``quarantined folder'' in an e-mail server, the union says.
BTU lawyers sent Board Attorney Edward Marko and Board Chairwoman Maureen Dinnen a cease and desist letter Thursday threatening legal action if e-mail blocking is not stopped by Oct. 26. The letter says each blocked e-mail is a violation of the board member's and the sender's constitutional rights under U.S. and Florida laws.
The accusation comes at a time when the district faces increased scrutiny after last month's arrest of board member Beverly Gallagher in a federal corruption sting. Board members have admitted the scandal has cost some of the public's faith in the district.
``Considering everything that has been happening recently with Broward schools, and now this, it's no wonder voters and taxpayers are losing trust in our district's leaders,'' BTU President Pat Santeramo said in a statement. ``District officials appear willing to break whatever laws necessary to keep their house of cards standing, but it's falling all around them nonetheless.''
The school district did not immediately comment about the issue, though a spokesman said officials were working on a response.
BTU, with help from lawyers from the national American Federation of Teachers, began investigating in March after two board members said they did not receive hundreds of messages asking to increase teacher salaries.
The union says the district also intercepted e-mails from BTU stewards in April asking the federal stimulus dollars be used to save jobs. E-mails about contract negotiations in August were also blocked, according to BTU.
Thursday's letter says BTU is considering legal action against the School Board's technology use policy, which says use of electronic services ``shall be properly monitored, and to the extent reasonably possible, users of school sponsored telecommunication services and networks shall be protected from harassment or unsafe, unwanted, or unsolicited contact.''
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Re: Teachers Union blocks emails
Thu, October 15, 2009 - 11:02 AMhow about a ``quarantined folder'' for all emails to or from our elected officials sent automatically to all that representatives constituents?
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Re: Teachers Union blocks emails
Thu, October 15, 2009 - 11:26 AMYEAH that would be like opening up Pandora's box -
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Re: Teachers Union blocks emails
Thu, October 15, 2009 - 4:02 PMWow.
As soon as I see the word 'interception', my brain immediately goes to wiretapping. I'm wondering if the state or federal wiretapping laws are being applied to this case...... -
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Re: Teachers Union blocks emails
Fri, October 16, 2009 - 8:24 PMWTF kind of incubator did Jeb Bush build down there?? -
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Re: Teachers Union blocks emails
Sat, October 17, 2009 - 2:36 AMIn the past 30 months Florida has removed 30 officials from public office including the Sheriff of Broward County, 2 high ranking school board officials, and many local/city officials and commisioners all on corruption charges, bribery; etc. -
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Re: Teachers Union blocks emails
Sun, October 25, 2009 - 2:56 PMThere is a large open question unanswered in this article, to wit: Who owns either the originating or the receiving computer? If the emails in question were either sent from or sent to publicly-owned computers, there should be no expectation whatsoever of privacy. That is true in practically every firm in private industry, and should be the standard for the public sector, as well.
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