July 14, 2009

Dear Little Miss Josey Alexander:

You must be embarrassed to have to write your silly letters to me, but I presume that your boss, Crawford Lewis, one whom I call “a joke of a superintendent,” is upset with how we call him a “joke” and a “clown” and a “candy ass superintendent.” Do you feel like you are being legally pimped? If not, then you are a worse attorney than I initially thought you were. Did you even take a Constitutional Law class in law school? Do you understand anything about the First Amendment? Well, tell little ole Crawford that we may leave him alone for a while because our next target are the school board members (Sarah Copelin-Wood, Zepora Roberts, Gene Walker, et al.). Our message to them: Either get rid of Crawford Lewis or face political doom at your next election. You think that Crawford will like that?

Lady, if you think that calling an elected official (superintendent of a large school system who has constant access to the media) a “joke” or a “clown” or a “candy ass superintendent” is actionable, then you had better go back and read New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, if you have ever read it in the first place. The absolute defense against any slander or libel is the truth, and what we have said about Crawford Lewis is the truth. His administration had refused to abide by the Georgia Statute on grievances (O.C.G.A. 20-2-989.5 et seq.). We have addressed Crawford on many occasions about his administration not abiding by this law. When a superintendent refuses to go by this law, we can only conclude that he or she is afraid of airing out complaints from employees, subject to the aforementioned statute. Hence, the superintendent is a “candy ass,” a “chicken,” if you will. Crawford is not the only superintendent who has earned this moniker in Georgia. But, make no mistake, I think that Crawford Lewis is “a joke of a superintendent,” a “clown of a superintendent,” and “a candy ass superintendent.” Do I think that he is also an “educational hypocrite”? Sure I do! Not just him, but I think that Atlanta’s Beverly Hall and SACS’s Mark Elgart are big time “educational hypocrites” in Georgia. Now, I have never called Crawford a “killer,” as your letter libelously accused me of doing.

Miss Alexander, if you want to engage in a frivolous suit against me, then go ahead. If you actually think that another silly letter from you in any way intimidates me, then you obviously have the wrong “John Trotter.” Perhaps you were looking for a “John Trotter” who plays the bagpipes in Scotland, but even he, I don’t think, would be one bit impressed by you. Crawford chose to get into the kitchen; he will just have to take the heat of being a public official. I will continue to offer my opinion about Crawford and his lack of leadership in the DeKalb County School System. We were just about to have a grievance hearing where the teacher whom we were representing was about to testify about systematic cheating at Clarkston High School, and State Senator Ronald Ramsey summarily shut down the grievance, which he had no legal right to do. This teacher had a list of other teachers who were willing to testify about the cheating matters. As you recall, MACE has staged a number of pickets at the DeKalb Central Office and elsewhere decrying systematic cheating. Shortly thereafter, the Atherton Cheating Scandal broke wide open in the media, and I think the administrators were carried off in handcuffs. Then, you had the situation which was covered on the nightly news about the teacher at King High School who alleges that the grades in her grade book were changed and that students who were not supposed to graduate actually graduated. Oh yes, I think that there is a lot of corruption in the DeKalb County School System, and the buck stops at the top. Yep, I will continue to agitate and will not vacillate one bit.

Miss Josey, if your letters were not so pitiful and sad, they would actually be laughable. Yep, this might be fun…having the Doors of Depositions opened. “We waive all objections except to the form of the question…unless, of course, the heat gets too hot, and then we’ll ask State Senator Ronald Ramsey to shut down the depositions for good!” The previous quote, Miss Josey, was satire – in case you didn’t get it. I don’t think any “reasonable man” would conclude that we were literally quoting your good boss, the “Candy Ass Superintendent”! But, you never know.

Miss Josey, I have to run now. But, I will make sure that this letter too will end up on our website, TheTeachersAdvocate.Com. What do you think of our website? We’ve been getting a lot of good responses from this website. The teachers and the public have a right to know!

Sincerely:

                                     John R. Alston Trotter, EdD, JD

P. S. Miss Josey, do you actually think that you can give me a “Formal Directive”? LOL! I take “formal directives” from the Good Lord Himself, the Good Book (Revised Standard Version preferred), and my parents (who are both over 84 years young now). Your chutzpah is quite amusing.

c. J. Anderson Ramay, Esq.

    Preston Lee Haliburton, Esq.