Because, yes, things are really getting this bad. Sandra Tetley, a parent in Galveston, Texas runs a website called " GISD Watch" where she is really keeping an eye on the things going on in her school district. According to Neal Boortz (where I first discovered this story):
Tetley accuses trustees and administrators of breaking the law. Her group, Galveston Alliance for Neighborhood schools, has a history of criticizing the district for reconfiguring its middle schools, closing elementary schools, meeting in illegal executive sessions, refusing to divulge contents of a letter from a civil rights consultant, and for issuing a budget forecast that was off by $10 million.
Board members evidently don't like this very much and have had their lawyers send her a nasty letter demanding that libelous statements against the school board be removed. A government entity is
threatening to sue a private citizen for libel.
I sure am no lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but I seem to remember that our right to criticize the government (and therefore its officials) is protected by the U.S. Constitution. Or something like that. It seems to this layperson/U.S. citizen that if Tetley is criticizing a government official for something they did in their official government capacity, then those writings couldn't be considered libelous. Now if Tetley wrote something nasty about a government official for something outside the scope of their job, then that
individual might have a case against her for libel. Gosh, I hope that's the way it works. (I haven't spent enough time on Tetley's website to determine the nature of these apparently libelous comments.)
I suspect that the school board knows they will lose this case, so it makes me wonder why they'd be willing to spend lots and lots of taxpayer dollars to bring an action against this woman. Sandra Tetley--fight the power!
Because, yes, things are really getting this bad. Sandra Tetley, a parent in Galveston, Texas runs a website called " GISD Watch" where she is really keeping an eye on the things going on in her school district. According to Neal Boortz (where I first discovered this story):
Board members evidently don't like this very much and have had their lawyers send her a nasty letter demanding that libelous statements against the school board be removed. A government entity is threatening to sue a private citizen for libel.
I sure am no lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but I seem to remember that our right to criticize the government (and therefore its officials) is protected by the U.S. Constitution. Or something like that. It seems to this layperson/U.S. citizen that if Tetley is criticizing a government official for something they did in their official government capacity, then those writings couldn't be considered libelous. Now if Tetley wrote something nasty about a government official for something outside the scope of their job, then that individual might have a case against her for libel. Gosh, I hope that's the way it works. (I haven't spent enough time on Tetley's website to determine the nature of these apparently libelous comments.)
I suspect that the school board knows they will lose this case, so it makes me wonder why they'd be willing to spend lots and lots of taxpayer dollars to bring an action against this woman. Sandra Tetley--fight the power!