Submitted by Steve Sherman, Apr 5, 2007 02:27

Shame on you, NY Sun. You really got this story exactly wrong. I am the parent of a Weekday School child, and my second child is an alum, so I am very involved in and knowledgable about what is going on. First, your headline, "Preschool Director Accused of Mistreating Student". It's more than wrong, it's downright misleading. Linda Herman was not accused of mistreating a student -- she was accused of breaching a confidentiality, and for making a racially insensitive statment. Do a quick poll of any editors or reporters around you right now -- ask what they think when they hear of a preschool director "mistreating" a student. Your headline suggests abuse far beyond what this story is about -- such sensationalism has no place in good journalism. While you correctly report on the accusations, yet do not scratch even a hair's width below that surface. If you had, you would have found the real story here. A parent, upset because their child may not have qualified for a specific school, accuses Ms. Herman of a breach of confidentiality for discussing their child's ERB score with this other school's admissions director in the hopes of matching this child with exactly the right school and best educational opportunity. Yet you didn't mention that such discussions between administrators are necessary, legitimate and routine -- and do not consitute any kind of breach whatsoever. So Ms. Herman really stands accused of doing her job, doing it well, and keeping the BEST interests of ALL her children as her foremost concern. Then you paraphrase the so-called racial remark she made, yet fail to mention that in fact, Ms. Herman's comment was 100% medically accurate. Any pediatrician or medical journal will tell you that African Americans rarely get head lice -- go ahead and look it up. You'll find that there was no racially insensitive remark whatsoever -- just a simple and incontrovertible medical fact that was properly stated by Ms. Herman, misunderstood by an ignorant or oversensitive parent, and used as a blunt weapon by a malicious and amoral Church administrator. The real story here is about the Riverside Church officials who are trying to railroad an employee they apparently want out, and secretly fishing for any potential accusations in a witch-hunt to justify their actions, regardless of truth and impervious to their responsibilities to our school and our children. What these officials are doing is highly immoral and possibly illegal.

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