E-mail that shows ADN's Lisa Demer was trying her best to get to the bottom of the Trig Palin birth story. Update!

Mercede Johnston and Bristol Palin from April 2008.

This e-mail string was started by an e-mail to Sharon Leighow from School Superintendent Carol Comeau (My old boss), in response to queries by Lisa Demer: From:

Comeau_Carol To: Leighow, Sharon W (GOV) 
Sent: Fri Dec 19 16:11:04 2008 
Subject: Lisa Demer contact 

Hi Sharon, 
I just tried to call you to give you an update on another contact from Lisa Demer. She wanted to know the exact date that Bristol lelt West. I refused to give that to her based on the Family Rights Act, FERPA, that governs student records. I told her our attorney advised me not to give her any more information than I did before (I told her that Bristol enrolled January 7, 2008 and withdrew May 7, 2008. She was frustrated but I told her I could not give any more information to her without parental consent. I don’t know if she will try and get the info another way, but I did want you and the governor to know. Carol

The first notable thing about this e-mail is that I do believe it is the first OFFICIAL timeline given for when Bristol enrolled at West High and when she was withdrawn from school. (From everything I have been able to gather, the last sighting of Bristol in that school was sometime in February of 2008. NOBODY has come forward to say they saw her at any time after that.)

Now I personally ran into the stone wall of FERPA as well. I had a teacher friend who herself had a friend that taught Bristol at West High. One day I asked if it would be possible that I talk to this teacher, even off the record, about when Bristol last attended.

My teacher friend was also convinced that something was screwy about the Governor's pregnancy, but she said there was no way to make that request because teachers were not allowed to give out that kind of information about students. As a school district employee myself I had to respect that, and did not press the issue further.

Now of course the Palins, and their supporters, would say that asking this kind of question was ridiculous, and that there was nothing revelatory about when Bristol did, or did not, attend classes in Anchorage.

But if THAT were true how do we explain this e-mailed response?

From: Palin, Sarah (GOV sponsored)
Sent:  Friday, December 19, 2008 6:01 PM
To: Leighow, Sharon W (GOV) <sharon.leighow@alaska.gov>; McAllister, William D
(GOV) <bill.mcallister@alaska.gov>; Perry, Kristina Y (GOV)
<kris.perry@alaska.gov>; Nizich, Michael A (GOV) <mike.nizich@alaska.gov>
Subject:   Re: Lisa Demer contact

What the heck are they trying to get at here?/REDACTED (About two sentences removed here) lREDACTED And lisa doesn,t need to know any of this, of course, but I think we have the right to know what the heck she’s trying to piece together on her fishing expedition.

Now WHAT exactly could be revealed in this e-mail, which clearly states that Palin has no idea what Demer is "trying to piece together on her fishing expedition," that requires a redaction? 

Is it state business? 

Secret sensitive material that is for government eyes only? 

I don't see how that could be. 

And wouldn't leaving it intact help put to rest the "conspiracy theory" that Bristol might have been missing classes because she was visibly pregnant, or had just given birth at that time? Unless the redacted portion gave some clues to what was really going on that Palin did not want to fall into the hands of journalists (and of course bloggers), as indicated by the remark "Lisa doesn't need to know any of this of course."

So what in the hell is so damn secret about a teenage girls high school attendance, that compels the state of Alaska to redact any mention of it?

Update: It looks like Demer was coming at this from all angles. 

The children of Anchorage WILL be allowed to watch the President's speech. Now that is the Alaska that I know and love!

Anchorage public school teachers can have their classes tune in to President Obama's speech Tuesday despite the protest of some local parents that the speech should be blocked from the classroom.

School Superintendent Carol Comeau said Thursday she instructed teachers that if they want, they can air the speech on education and work it into their curriculum, and that parents can opt to not have their children watch.

I would be very surprised if any of the teachers in Anchorage chose not to have their students participate in this opportunity. The teachers that I have met, regardless of their political affiliations, are all about providing access to information and new experiences. They will not cheat the kids out of something as cool as this.

And I pity any children whose close minded parents pull them from class and keep them from being exposed to an intelligent and reasonable President for the first time in some of their young lives. Let's face it, for many of the grade school kids especially they have only been exposed to George W. Bush and now Obama. Who would you rather they hear an address from?

I am also happy to hear that the teachers in the Valley will be able to decide for themselves as well.

Mat-Su school district spokeswoman Catherine Esary said the Valley district was leaving it up to teachers and schools to decide to watch it or not. Alaska Department of Education spokesman Eric Fry said his non-partisan state agency was also taking a hands-off approach, leaving it up to districts, as it does most decisions.

I know that we have come to believe that the Valley is full of misplaced hillbillies and anti-government survivalists thanks to the example of Sarah Palin, but I know there are many very intelligent and reasonable people also living out there. I would also be surprised if any of those teachers chose to skip the President's address as well.

I would be less surprised to find that more parents kept their children home however, but perhaps that is my own prejudice making that assumption.

Anyhow the speech will be released on Monday, so I will link to it so that people can read the whole thing for themselves. Hopefully if anybody has any doubt of the content or it's purpose they will take the time to at least read it before making a rash decision concerning their child's education.

And did I tell you how proud of my city I am right now? Well too bad, I am telling you again!