I believe in Freedom of Speech.
So I was not against the fact that someone mentioned my name over and over at a school board meeting Monday night. She had every right to do so.
However, just because we have freedom of speech does not mean we won’t be held accountable for what we say.
Since I was not afforded the opportunity from a publishing company to respond to these accusations and claims before they publicly shared her one-sided opinion of me, I’d like to take the time to respond now.
“At no time would I have ever shared a victims story w/o their consent. That was an ethical standard for me as I believed it could cause further harm.”
Fact check: At no point did I share the details of the case. I have had every disturbing detail from the very beginning including the names of the victim and the accused young men. I never once released a detail or name – even after some of the accused were sending out Snapchat messages about me with inappropriate hand gestures and #ags which reportedly meant “Amanda Goodman sucks.”
“I question where Amanda Goodman has been getting her info. Have any staff from Family & Children’s Council offered their actual services to the school, victim families?”
Fact check: All of the information I received regarding the investigation was confirmed by authorities. On behalf of Family & Children’s Council, I sent a letter to South Winneshiek High School offering to educate the students and staff on sexual abuse prevention. I never heard from the school.
“A young woman was recently prom dress shopping in the Cedar Valley and was asked where she went to school. After responding, she was told ‘oh, I’m sorry.’ This is the direct result of the numerous posts by Amanda Goodman.”
Fact check: I was not involved in any alleged sexual assault of a student. I did not commit any crimes. I shared information about an alleged sexual assault and reports of a cover-up. The good people of the Cedar Valley are entitled to draw their own conclusions.
“She posted to Facebook at 2pm that she wasn’t going to attend because her local authorities advised her not to.”
Fact check: I have been threatened repeatedly with things like such: “I’m going to choke the s*** out of you”; “Little girl let me come find you in ghetto Waterloo.” So no, I did not feel safe.
“On FB she said you can only talk about what is listed on the published agenda. Unfortunately there is no mention of what has been in the headlines on the agenda…Hopefully you all have a copy of that agenda. I just don’t see it, again leading me to question where Amanda Goodman is getting her information from.”
Fact check: From the South Winneshiek Community School District School Board meeting agenda, number 5: Comments should be kept to two minutes. The Board will listen to public comments, but please be advised that we cannont comment or discuss items not on the published agenda. Also, please remember that confidential student or staff information should not be shared in a public meeting but should be discussed directly with the superintendent.
What was on the agenda is as follows:
12. New Business
a. FY2018 Audit Report by Hacker & Nelson
b. Approve 2019-2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement with the South Winneshiek Educational Support
Professionals
c. Approve Cooperative Agreement for Pre-Service Clinical Placement with University of Northern Iowa
d. Approve Partnership Agreement between the Winneshiek Co Fair Board, Winneshiek CO Agricultural
Extension and Decorah CSD, South Winneshiek CSD and Turkey Valley CSD
e. Approve School Budget Guarantee
f. Approve 2019-2020 School Calendar
g. Extend Teacher daily contract hours
h. Summer Projects
i. Set Public Hearing Date for 2019-2020 School Budget
j. Approve DLR Group as Architect for EL/MS Roof
The statement was concluded with a lovely quote by Mother Teresa.
I’ll end with a different quote:
Our Lives Begin To End The Day We Become Silent About Things That Matter