Fort Wayne Observed

The End?

The hearing is over.

Fraser agreed to the deal with NACS I reported earlier. Don't expect to hear from him anytime soon; the gag order is already in effect.

MORE: The "official" part of the meeting lasted less than a minute. After it was opened, the resolution concerning the previously negotiated settlement was passed unanimously, and then the meeting was
quickly adjourned. Local media outlets didn't even have a chance to set up their cameras
before it was over.

As part of the deal, several Carroll instructors would tutor him individually at the Dupont Branch of the Allen County Library after school lets out. But a source close to the Frasers says Jeff is likely
to enroll at another local high school instead.

UPDATE: Tracy Warner provides more details, including the following statement from NACS superintendent Steve Yager:

The matter concerning the expulsion of Jeffrey R. Fraser from Carroll High School has been resolved by the affected parties on the following terms:

1. The expulsion of Jeffrey Fraser (the "Student") shall be rescinded immediately.

2. The Student is not to attend curricular, co-curricular, or extra-curricular activities, or school-sponsored events on the Carroll High School campus during the remainder of the 2005-2006 school year, and School will provide all home-schooling necessary for the Student to graduate in June 2006.

3. No further legal action, criminal or civil, will be pursued or initiated by the parties, and the Parties shall take all reasonable action to ensure any criminal charges shall be dismissed.

4. The Student shall not attend the Carroll High School 2006 graduation ceremonies. The Student also wishes the following be stated:

I apologize to the faculty, staff, and students of Carroll High School and administration of Northwest Allen County Schools, especially to Principal Deborah Neumeyer, Mr. DiPrimio, Mr. Ginder, and Mr. Drake, for the things I said in the publication. Further, I want to apologize to former principal Dr. Tim Ogle, for all references to him in the publication were false, fabricated, and without merit.

White Forgets FWOb Address

WOWO's Pat White discussed the Fraser affair on his show this afternoon. Apparently he doesn't read Fort Wayne Observed, because someone had to call in and tell his producer that the book is available online. White then mentioned that the book was on the Internet and that he was going to go read it himself.

But did he tell his listeners where it was? No. More I-get-to-read-it-but-you-don't from the Fort Wayne media.

I'd imagine most people are getting tired of that.

Audio of Warner Interview

LISTEN to Tracy Warner discuss the Jeff Fraser situation on WOWO.

UPDATE: WOWO has posted a link to Fort Wayne Observed at WOWO.com, informing readers that they can find more information about the case as well as read the satire in question here.

Fraser Endgame?

Tonight the NACS board will meet to discuss the expulsion of Jeff Fraser. As I reported yesterday, Fraser and local attorney Steve Shine met with NACS representatives on Wednesday to try to work out some sort of agreement. It is my understanding that this agreement will be presented to the school board tonight for their approval.

So what will become of Fraser?  Will his suspension be overturned, opening the door for his return to Carroll?

No.

That's according to sources familiar with the deal currently being discussed. They say that, as it now stands, Fraser's expulsion will be officially repealed, but he will not be allowed to return to Carroll.

A second aspect of the impending deal is Fraser agreeing to a gag order that would prevent him from discussing Carroll (the Book) and the resultant fallout. NACS apparently has not appreciated the negative publicity they've been receiving over this incident, and they'd like to stop the bleeding.

In fact, when Shine called me yesterday, he mentioned that my posting of Carroll (the Book) may put the agreement between Fraser and NACS in jeopardy, which I understood to be referring to that gag order. How my actions, as an unrelated third party, could impact negotiations between Fraser and NACS is unclear.

Fraser is expected to agree to the terms of the proposed settlement.

My Conversation with the Attorney

Earlier tonight, I spoke with Steve Shine, who said he is acting as the Frasers' attorney in this matter. (Indeed, a source said Shine was with Fraser today when they met with NACS representatives to discuss an agreement in advance of tomorrow's closed door school board meeting.)

Shine politely asked that I stop posting pages from Carroll (the Book) and take down those that I had already posted. He intimated that putting the book online might jeopardize the agreement being negotiated between Fraser and the NACS, which led me to believe that part of that agreement may involve some sort of gag order whereby Fraser agrees not to talk about the book or distribute it. Why he would agree to that is beyond me. But perhaps he's under the mistaken impression that agreeing to a gag order is a good idea.

Shine said that there was a copyright on the book and that if I did not take it off my site, the Fraser family would likely file an injunction against me for copyright infringement.

I've had some experience with intellectual property law in the past. It's nice that Fraser included the copyright notice in the book, but there doesn't need to be an explicit copyright on something for it to be copyrighted. It's protected from the moment it's created.

But that doesn't mean that, by posting some or all of the book, I'm breaking the law.  From the U.S. Copyright Office:

Under the fair use doctrine of the U.S. copyright statute, it is permissible to use limited portions of a work including quotes, for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, and scholarly reports. There are no legal rules permitting the use of a specific number of words, a certain number of musical notes, or percentage of a work. Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on all the circumstances.

I think it's pretty clear that what I'm doing falls in that category. I'm certainly not trying to make money off of the book or undercut Fraser's ability to distribute it himself.

And because Fraser was expelled for the totality of the book, an argument can be made for posting all 14 pages, as opposed to just selected excerpts.

I asked Shine to write up a cease and desist letter to detail his request and send it to me. He said he wasn't going to do that, as he was not at the office and that he didn't have my mailing address or email address. (My email address, of course, is listed prominently in the sidebar.)

Apparently he felt that asking nicely and invoking the specter of an injunction would be sufficient in convincing me to take down the book.

It is not.

FWOb to Post Carroll (the Book)

Over the last few days, Tracy Warner, Frank Gray and Leo Morris have all been kind enough to read a copy of Carroll (the Book) and tell us whether writing it rises to the level of expulsion.

Like you, I wanted to see it myself before passing judgment.  Yesterday I read it and earlier this morning posted my thoughts.

And I think that you ought to be able to do the same thing before deciding if the author in question deserved to be expelled. That's why I've decided to post the pages of the book here on Fort Wayne Observed.

I've talked to Jeff Fraser, and -- surprise -- he doesn't want the book to be made public. But he's also trying to get as much public support for his plight as possible, and that's hard to do when you're not willing to let people read the book in question.

After all this talk about it, it's time for people to finally get a chance to see it for themselves.

I think, after reading it, many of you will come to the same conclusion I did -- it's not something you'd want to include in the family Christmas card, but Fraser didn't deserve to be expelled for writing it.

I also think you'll see just how of bright Fraser is. I'm looking forward to seeing what he'll be doing a year or two down the road, after he's put all this behind him.

I'm going to be posting each page individually so that readers can comment on each page. Please, please, please -- keep your comments clean and relevant. Feel free to debate with other commenters, but don't get personal or vulgar. With HaloScan, I can block the IP address of anyone who writes a comment that doesn't meet those standards, meaning you won't be able to comment on any future posts here.

Thanks.

Reaction to Carroll (the Book)

Yesterday I read Carroll (the Book). As most of us know, not everything that's called a satire is worthy of that distinction. I'm not sure that Carroll (the Book) qualifies.

That's not to say that it wasn't funny here and there; I did laugh once or twice at some of Fraser's attempts to illustrate the absurdity that we all remember from our high school days. But much of the "criticisms" in the book are quite personal, especially the venom Fraser directs at Carroll principal Deb Neumeyer.

I've known Neumeyer for several years. Her husband taught video productions at Concordia High School and was the reason I decided to pursue a career in film and go to USC. Last year Mrs. Neumeyer asked me to come and speak with a Carroll senior who was interested in filmmaking; outside of watching her interact with students and fellow administrators during that quick visit, I have no idea what kind of principal she is.

But I do know the kind of person she is. And even if she was the worst principal in the history of the world, she didn't deserve to have the things written about her that Fraser wrote.

He made a mistake -- one I'm sure he regrets -- and as a 17 year-old kid, he's allowed to make them. But that doesn't mean he gets to avoid the consequences of those mistakes.

In this case, the administration decided the consequence ought to be expulsion.

That, in my opinion, was a little too harsh. Suspend him, sure. Make him apologize. Make him apologize again. But kick him out of school? That's not doing anyone any good, as we all have seen. It only got a lot of people worked up and may well have given Fraser the mistaken impression that what he did was somehow noble and that he's the victim here. It wasn't, and he isn't.

Fraser made a decision to create the book, to make copies and to distribute them at school. I'm sure he regrets doing that, but he can't claim that anyone forced him to do it.

Last week, I talked to Fraser. He seems like a nice kid. I think he knows he screwed up, but there's part of him that wants to believe those telling him that this was just a case of a school acting way out of line and violating his rights. After all, what kid wouldn't want some big shot lawyer to come in and say he didn't do anything wrong?

But what he ought to do, if he hasn't already, is take a look at Carroll (the Book) again, and exchange Deb Neumeyer's name with that of someone he cares about...like, perhaps, his mother. I wonder if he'd find that revised edition funny.

And then he ought to go apologize to the people he needs to apologize to -- not because it might help him get back into school, but because it's the right thing to do. And I'm not talking about sending a letter, which he's already done. He needs to apologize in person, which is much more difficult that firing off a note. He certainly ought to explain to those people what he was trying to do, but he also needs to acknowledge his failure, and to take responsibility for it.

If he does that, what people will remember about this whole incident won't be what Fraser wrote; it will be the way he handled himself afterwards.

JG Editors Assume...

...that people don't read Indiana Parley, apparently.  This morning, the paper ran a story about Jeff Fraser's current school situation.

The Carroll High School student expelled after writing a book critical of the administration is now attending school with students who are on probation after being arrested.

Joe Brita, superintendent of the Allen County Juvenile Center, confirmed Tuesday that Jeff Fraser, 17, is enrolled in the building’s alternative school. The center acts as a juvenile jail for youths and has an alternative school for students who are not incarcerated but have been expelled from school.

But Indiana Parley readers already knew that last Thursday.

One of the things not mentioned in the coverage of the expulsion of Jeff Fraser is a description of his current educational digs.

Well, Indiana Parley has provided a photograph of the school's campus for you.

Yes, that's correct. It's the alternative school at the Allen County Juvenile Center, formerly known as Sol A. Wood.

(Mitch Harper even provided a photograph for those who prefer to look at pictures.)

TV News

CBS and Warner Bros. are forming a new television network:

The WB and UPN are merging in a surprise deal unveiled Tuesday in New York.That move could open up some real estate for syndicated programers. The merged entity will be launched in fall 2006, with each company owning 50% of a new network, dubbed The CW. The WB and UPN will continue to broadcast their regular schedules until that time. Popular shows from each will morph into the new net.

What will be the impact of this deal locally? WPTA has been operating the WB station in Fort Wayne for some time now. The UPN station is part of the WANE family. Hmm...

Blogger Roundup

• Tracy Warner on local candidates' 2006 election filings

• Leo Morris on Carroll: the Book (Leo's now read the bootleg, it seems, and has some thoughts...and he also responds to Tracy Warner's comments about an earlier post on whether the Tinker v. Des Moines Supreme Court ruling ought to apply in this case

• At Indiana Parley, FWCS board member Jon Olinger weighs in on the Fraser expulsion in a comment on an earlier Indiana Parley post