Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2008 > December > 11 > Entry
Breaking: local Linux hero makes nice with flamed AISD teacher
Linux is a free, open-source operating system that is an alternative for many to Mac OS or Microsoft’s Windows. HeliOS is an Austin group that builds computers for kids who can’t afford them which run the Linux operating system.
The e-mail implied that what Starks is doing might be illegal and advised him to work with Microsoft instead. Starks’ fiery response to the e-mail, which he posted in the blog along with an excerpt from the e-mail, was picked up by such heavily trafficked sites as Slashdot and Boing Boing. On Slashdot alone, the item has generated more than 1,470 comments.
Now, Starks says he regrets the whole incident. “I don’t think I’ve ever committed one act that made me feel like such a schmuck,” he said in a phone interview with the American-Statesman today.
Starks says he has spoken with the teacher twice since his Monday post and that “Karen” was crying when they spoke. What she failed to mention in her initial e-mail, he says, is that she gave the Linux discs back to the student and was more concerned that there might be pornography or other suspect material on the discs than about a non-Windows operating system being introduced in the classroom.
“She was beside herself,” Starks said, “I excoriated an entire profession. If I can’t heal that what I want to do is make this lady understand that I’m really and sincerely sorry from the bottom of my heart that I caused her grief.”
Many blog commenters tried to suss out the teacher’s identity as well as her school by trying to decode x’s Starks used in his post to cover up the woman’s last name and her school. He assured me that he didn’t make his masking of the teacher’s identity that easy to decode. And searching the AISD database doesn’t narrow it down much: there are 66 AISD middle school employees named “Karen.”
Starks said a New Zealand newspaper offered to donate $1,000 to his project if he revealed the teacher’s last name and that a U.S. magazine offered $10,000 for the information. He does not plan to divulge Karen’s last name or school.
Starks sounded nervous when he answered his phone today. He said “We’re being litigated,” and added, “my lawyer has stuck a size-12 boot in my mouth.”
Nevertheless, he revealed that after his two conversations with the teacher, “She’s working to stop (the legal action).” He implied that colleagues of the teacher had encouraged her to take to the courts but that they had made progress in their two phone conversations, which the teacher initiated by text messaging Starks.
The brouhaha, Starks figures, has at least put a spotlight on Linux, which he says is his mission in life. Starks says he spoke to an official at AISD who assured him that not only does the district support Linux, but uses it widely. A phone call and e-mail to AISD have not yet elicited an informed response about the matter, but we’ll continue to update this story as more details or comment from the district is received.
Starks says he regrets the pain he says the harsh comments on the tech blogs have caused the teacher. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt this bad about something I’ve done in my life,” he said.
Starks plans to follow-up his now-infamous blog post with another one tonight (around 10 p.m., he said) which will update the situation and take a much nicer tone, we can assume.
Nevertheless, there’s a bit of a silver lining in the story of how an angry e-mail could rile the entire Linux world: on Saturday, Starks says, he has been invited to install the Linux operating system on Karen’s home computer.
(Photo provided by Ken Starks.)
Update: AISD’s director of technology has commented on the story and given his take on the situation.
Permalink | Comments (22) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Computers, Internet
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By cheap computers
September 19, 2009 4:42 AM | Link to this
The fact that she didn't know anything about Linux or live CDs doesn't change the fact that she was expected to take charge of the situation when she saw what appeared to be a kid tampering with the computers.
By JImi
December 22, 2008 8:58 PM | Link to this
I read the excerpt from the email, and I read the response. Ken has no need to apologise. To say she thought there was pornography on the CDs is disingenuous to an extreme, especially in light of the lines: "No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful. These children look up to adults for guidance and discipline." and "...the claims you make are grossly over-stated and hinge on falsehoods. I admire your attempts in getting computers in the hands of disadvantaged people but putting linux on these machines is holding our kids back."
Oh and if there is any litigation going to happen, it should be Ken litigating against Karen, not the other way around. After all, she possibly committed libel by inferring he was breaking the law.
By Ken Starks
December 20, 2008 9:03 AM | Link to this
Ken, I send you a Christmas card for Karen, with you pass it on? Something with Penguins maybe? :)
You bet I will. Richard Stallman is trying to arrange a speech at a particular school here in Austin. Ya think that school might be.....
Ken
By JR
December 19, 2008 10:08 AM | Link to this
Why must lawyers always be involved? WTF?
By blackbelt_jones
December 14, 2008 8:34 PM | Link to this
Teachers have hundreds of duties in addition to educating. The fact that she didn't know anything about Linux or live CDs doesn't change the fact that she was expected to take charge of the situation when she saw what appeared to be a kid tampering with the computers. She admitted that she was wrong, and has shown an interest in learning more.
If Ken Starks feels like a schmuck, it's because he knows he could have cut straight to the learning opportunity, without the ugliness.
Have you ever made a complete *** of yourself? I know that it's happened to me a few times, and some of these incidents have involved angry emails (like Karen) and angry blog posts (like Ken).
Merry Christmas to all complete ***** everywhere. Ken, I send you a Christmas card for Karen, with you pass it on? Something with Penguins maybe? :)
By Ben Franklin
December 13, 2008 7:40 PM | Link to this
Ken's biggest mistake was going public. Tell me which of you saintly persons never dashed off an email in anger and haste, and regretted it later? What if someone had sicced the entire Internet on you for doing that, instead of taking the high road and trying to resolve it privately, like adults? I am so sick of the hateful comments of how this teacher, if she even exists and it even happened, deserved to get jumped on by the entire world and should be fired and all the other garbage. So many mean people in the world.
By tracyanne
December 13, 2008 5:31 PM | Link to this
quote:: His blog post seemed a fairly civil reply to an ignorant person. I guess I just don't understand why he apologized to her or feels so bad.
To all those people who seem to think the ignorance of one person requires arrogance and ill manners from another, get a life.
Ken is a decent human being who did not set out to harm anyone. The fact that his post generated so much uncalled for animosity towards the teacher concerned, is sufficient for him to feel bad.
Obviously the people directing all this uncalled for animosity towards this person are never, so long as they live, going feel any sense of contrition because of their hurtful, hateful, immature, responses.
The people that are advocating making anonymous calls to this person or the schools or the AISD, grow up. Whatever you think you will achieve, I can assure you that any reasonable person will see you and your call as vile, and whatever you hope to represent as beneath contempt.
The teacher deserved an appology, for the vile hateful immature things that were said about her, she got one from Ken, I'm quite sure the people who believe they have a mandate to vilify her, on the strength of her ignorance, will never do so.
By tracyanne
December 13, 2008 5:07 PM | Link to this
I've just surfed to this page after Ken sent the link in an email, so I can state with some confidence that I know Ken.
To begin with Ken's concern was that Linux was being slandered, that someone, anyone, the name the place don't matter, was sufficiently ignorant of the Linux that they would say such things.
Second the teacher made a typo, does no one else make typos, especially in the heat o the moment.
People commenting in this teacher's typo really need to get a life.
By Skeptical
December 12, 2008 2:46 PM | Link to this
Omar--Thanks for the follow up. Internet "activists" are now posting names and phone numbers of AISD middle school teachers and encouraging people to call. For example someone on Digg.com posted the contact information for a teacher at Covington middle school. I'd be interested to know if the school has received any harassing phone calls. If the answer is yes, then I think that qualifies as news.
Also: How is it possible that a teacher is threatening a parent with legal action (as Mr. Stokes alleges) and neither the school principal nor AISD have any knowledge of it?
This whole thing sounds like a fish story.
By Omar Gallaga
December 12, 2008 12:00 PM | Link to this
Skeptical -- that is exactly why a version of this story has not yet run in the pages of the Statesman. I have asked Mr. Starks to pass on my contact information to the teacher in hopes she would be willing to speak with us (even anonymously) to confirm her identity, but Starks himself is adamant that he will not give out her school, last name or e-mail (see his follow-up blog post here: http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/12/character-assasinations-aint-us.html )
I have no reason to believe that Mr. Starks fabricated the story, but I also have no definitive proof (nor does the technology director of AISD, whom I wrote about yesterday on this blog) that the incident occurred. I've tried to be very careful to make that clear in my posts.
Mr. Starks seems like a fine gentleman and his actions seem admirable, but unfortunately that's not enough for us to take the story and run with it in its current state in the newspaper.
By Skeptical
December 12, 2008 11:12 AM | Link to this
I think Starks fabricated the e-mail and Karen doesn't exist. But maybe I'm wrong. Why doesn't the Statesman offer to send a reporter out with Starks on Saturday when he installs Linux on her computer. Starks' organization will get some additional publicity and Karen can still remain anonymous.
By k
December 12, 2008 10:52 AM | Link to this
reposted from the austinist comments:
from his blog:
"I have contacted the technology department of AISD and have discovered it has a rich technology environment that uses open source software in all aspects of instruction, operation, and administration. The District has over 36000 desktop and laptop computers. While about 24000 of those computers run some version of Windows - AISD is anything but a Windows shop. Their current standard teacher/student image includes both Open Office and Firefox on all Windows computers; and recently has added Open Office to the Apple OS image. Other open source software on both images include audacity and lame, and other free software such as google earth, iTunes, Adobe and many plug-ins. They also are members of the world community grid; their 36000 computers providing many hours of spare processing time (during the work day) to organizations trying to solve major world problems such as energy, cancer, and AIDS. Additionally, they are running more than 100 Linux servers. Other Open Source and Free software AISD uses include:
apache for web servers
samba for file sharing
nagios for server monitoring
mySQL and postgreSQL for some databases
sendmail for email services
ISC DHCP and bind for DHCP services
moodle for course management
tomcat and jboss for web based applications
perl and php to build in-house applications
this lady shouldn't be FIRED. she made a mistake. big deal. aisd has great teachers and some great technology.
By Dora Mia
December 12, 2008 6:27 AM | Link to this
Read the cut and pasted email she sent, it's simply pathetic. Good lord, the teacher couldn't be bothered to spell check her insane diatribe before firing it off? "I called a confrence with the student" What's a confrence? Austin, you can and should do better.
By buddy
December 12, 2008 12:57 AM | Link to this
He shouldn't feel bad because she cried. He didn't make her cry. She made herself cry by being so quick to rush to judgment instead of taking the time to see what her students were doing and learning from them.
He should feel bad that she's par for the course for AISD.
By Mathieu
December 11, 2008 9:46 PM | Link to this
Completly agree with d_s and mattsqz. There are no grounds for legal action, only grounds for a teacher to wish life had an undo button. Maybe next time she'll do her homework before sending out angry E-mails with false claims...
Microsoft will give you an old version for free? They put down the OLPC until it launched with linux and proved them wrong. Even after it worked, the only offer to sell it a reduced price... Linux and it's supporters are not the enemy in this story.
By Nick
December 11, 2008 8:25 PM | Link to this
It is true that Stark's initial response was civil. The problem is when fanboys jumped on the bash wagon and completely went beyond the pale berating someone who, as it turns out, was not entirely unreasonable.
Linux users need to get off the high horse if they ever hope to convert people. Being elitist jerks will only drive people away.
By Charles Duffy
December 11, 2008 8:03 PM | Link to this
I'm glad this is coming to an amicable conclusion. I'm a local who's been working with Free Software for years [at a dedicated Free Software/Open Source-oriented embedded systems company, in the context of supporting proprietary software projects, and most recently in infrastructure for Software-As-A-Service ventures], and was very disappointed to see what could have been an opportunity to educate turn into a flamefest.
As amends are being made, consider this a public offer to AISD [representing only myself, not my employer] to come in and give a presentation to students and/or staff on the use of Linux in the professional world, including discussion of the economics and legal issues (to the extent that the latter can be discussed without giving legal advice or otherwise constituting unauthorized practice of law). I can be contacted as charles@dyfis.net.
By Anon
December 11, 2008 8:02 PM | Link to this
Who cares if she was crying, she shouldn't be teaching kids period. Unfortunately, she's the norm rather than the exception. The "I'll be investigating this..." line in her letter should read "I have no clue what I'm talking about, but I'm going to consult plenty of back-issues of Readers Digest and New Idea until I come up with something that backs my dark-ages worldview".
Go on and litigate, she has no legal ground, no moral ground, and she deserves what she gets. If I were Starks, I'd not have backed down one inch. If she went public with accusations of him conducting illegal activity, then perhaps HE ought to litigating against her, for defamation. She works for a school system, our taxes pay for that school, we have a right to know what kind of idiot thats in there with our poor kids every day, no?
By kafecat
December 11, 2008 7:07 PM | Link to this
What the above commenters don't yet realize because they are young, fired up on ideas (not wrong in itself) and show a lacking in empathy and social scope (sorry, this does really come later, after life kicks you around a bit) - is that if you want a school district to be hip to your ideas: you don't come off like a raging A-hole and make a teacher cry. He was man enough to wake up out of the internet-world bubble of mouthing off at the computer screen and realized that his words have impact, and they can have impact for good or they can make people who while they may not be computer wizards DO have feelings and are human. If you want people to be persuaded to your great ideas - it helps to not be a jerk. He did the right thing for him, his program and Linux.
By bubbguamp
December 11, 2008 6:10 PM | Link to this
This is like that Tuttle OK city manager who was going off about the 'illegal' software on his city's linux servers a few years ago :-_
By mattsqz
December 11, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this
d_S is right, he did nothing wrong - how could there be litigation? she should feel like an idiot because she acted like one - the world isnt one big padded room, and you're gonna feel stupid sometimes. it happens. deal. dont weigh down our broken legal system with nonsense.
By d_S
December 11, 2008 2:46 PM | Link to this
His blog post seemed a fairly civil reply to an ignorant person. I guess I just don't understand why he apologized to her or feels so bad. She was the one with the dumb email that made herself and her whole profession look bad.
His reply was civil and he kept her identity anonymous. She should feel like an idiot because she acted like one.