Manchester Democrat David Scannell has admitted to leaking a letter from a lawyer to the Manchester Board of School Committee about a student. Scannell is claiming the public had a right to know. But legal communications are typically exempt, and he knows that. That’s not the only hole in his story. His claim is riddled with them.
Related: Manchester Democrats Are Afraid of Rich Girard
First, lest we forget, the original political hit initiated by Scannell and Manchester Democrats against Rich Girard was over student privacy. The student, who is 18-years old, published a letter in the school paper on teachers contract negotiations. A public political opinion statement. Rich read it and responded to the student using the district email system. He also blogged about it and discussed it on his cable-access television show.
As I noted here, none of these things is a violation of the law, rules, or district policy.
- The “student” is not a minor. They are voting constituent.
- This voter expressed a political opinion in a public space.
- The opinion was directed at the activities of the subcommittee which Mr. Girard leads.
- That everyone on the Manchester School District Staff and Students SAU37 Mail system can find and email anyone else by typing their name in the search bar.
- That there are no prohibitions, legal or otherwise, against using email in this manner.
- The communication was specific to the issue raised by the voter.
It Was Never About Student Privacy
Scannell and company made a big show over the issue of student privacy. The district, in turn, did have a healthy debate about the accessibility of the entire district to any email address in their system. But that was not the point. The purpose was to use a legitimate first amendment exchange to smear a political opponent.
The student retained a lawyer to (essentially) threaten the district to silence Girard’s protected first amendment speech. The lawyer emailed a confidential letter to the Mayor, Superintendent, and members of the Board of School Committee. Someone immediately leaked it to the press.
We now know that someone is Democrat David Scannell
Why? To keep Girard on the hot seat. He wanted to make sure Rich’s name stayed in the news cycle. Smear him. But while Girard’s activity is legally protected speech that violated no laws or rules Scannell’s leak probably broke the law.
About those Holes I mentioned
David Scannell claims the public had the right to know. That his leak was a legitimate exercise in the public interest. Sorry, that’s just not true. It was an extension of the political hit. And it may be a violation of both state and federal law. It also contradicts the presumption that any of this ever had anything to do with student privacy.
- By leaking the letter, Scannell infringed on the student’s privacy.
- He put her back into the news cycle, precisely the opposite of the intent for which she engaged legal counsel.
- As part of her student record, leaking the letter violates The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- Legal communications are typically of a personal nature and as such not subject to Right to Know.
- If it was a public document as Scannell claims why leak it anonymously?
Why Not Just Post it On Facebook?
If the letter from the student’s lawyer was, in fact, public why not post it to facebook? Scannell could have put it on any number of Manchester pages or even his own. Why leak it? Because it wasn’t a public document.
And if David Scannell is so firmly convinced that he did nothing wrong, why did he vote against referring his admission as the leaker to the District attorney to determine whether or not his belief was correct? Because it wasn’t a public document.
And if Scannell was so concerned about student privacy, why did he act to keep the story alive.
If the Manchester Board of School Committee is so concerned about student privacy why did they vote, along with Scannell, not to refer the matter to the District attorney?
Because this was never about studnt privacy.
It was and still is a political hit against Rich Girard. And his opponets are not just willing to violate student privacy and break the law to keep hitting. They are voting to protect Scannell.
