A union-approved flier with the headline "Protect your privacy!" handed out recently in Arlington urges the public to express their concerns at Tuesday's School Committee meeting. The Arlington Education Association (AEA) handout refers indirectly to e-mail issues that led the dismissals of the Ottoson principal and a teacher by saying, in large type, "Release of personnel information is an invasion or privacy. Hacking email is illegal."

 

Teacher Chuck Coughlin was dismissed Aug. 9, and Principal Stavroula Bouris was let go Aug. 22  following an investigation by the School Committee attorney,  which concluded both were involved in forging e-mails and in exchanging inappropriate e-mails on a public-school computer system.

 

Jack Duranceau, president of the AEA, wrote in an e-mail Sept. 21, that the teachers' union authorized the flier.

 

"The story so far has been very one-sided and clearly 'PR' oriented," he wrote.

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Asked what "personnel information" is alleged to have been released, Duranceau wrote:

"Release of information pertaining to ongoing disciplinary investigations, dismissal papers. It is also not at all clear that there are not some expectations of privacy on a public server.

 

"It will very much be a legal point as to whether system technicians have the right to read emails, and if they do, under what circumstances (rumors and innuendo unlikely to be one of them). I am not an expert in this, so I can not argue on the merits – just that I would be very careful on both sides of this issue."

 

The flier handed out in Arlington says. "The AEA contends that agents of the Arlington Public School System have recently:

• "Violated the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act
• "Violated the federal Stored Communications Act
• "Violated Arlington teachers' Consitutional Right to privacy
• "Violated teachers' Fourth Amendment Rights against illegal search and seizure guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution

"Obviously, private emails were presented as examples in the news media. Their provenance is completely suspect. The person who obtained them remains anonymous even though it would be reasonably easy to find where they were working from and under what name."

 

The story headlined "System technician cleared" says the technician was authorized to have access to the schools' e-mail system.

 

He continued: "From my point of view, the dismissal papers and the explicit paraphrasing of emails for which injunctions were pending was the last straw. The School Committee, the Superintendent, and the SC council have not distinguished themselves in this at all."

 

Duranceau wote in an e-mail Sept. 24:

 

"Personnel information was intended as what is in your personnel file – protected by statute. There may have been real 'hacking' involved or, at least, use of a password to access personal emails. We won't know until the dust clears." 

 

YourArlington has made repeated attempt to reach Coughlin, Bouris and their attorney, Frank Mondano. None has responded since YourArlington began trying to reach them in July.