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NICHOLAS LIFTON & TAYLOR, LTD. Chicago, IL
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Attorneys at Law
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CHIcAGo DECATuR COLLINSVILLE JOLIET www.rsnlt.com
NANCI N. ROGERS
nrogers@rsnlt.com
8218. 07014
VIA UPS NEXT DAY AIR
November 29, 2007
Dr. Edward L. Suntrup
1001 Green Bay Road, #313
Winnetka, IL 60093
Re: Motion for Finding and Sanctions for Violation
of Protective Order
Fox
River Grove School District No. 3
Dismissal
of David Warwak
Dear Dr. Suntrup:
It has come to our attention that
David Warwak has violated the Hearing Officer’s November 13, 2007 Ruling on the District’s
request for a protective order (“Ruling”) by continuing to post information
about this matter on his website. The District is particularly concerned because, as
further described in paragraphs 7 through 12 below, Mr. Warwak has been interviewed on
radio broadcasts about this matter, and stated that he will not abide by the Ruling.
Accordingly, please consider this letter as the motion of Fox River Grove School District
No. 3 (“District”) for a Finding and Sanctions for Violation of the Protective
Order against Mr. Warwak. In support of its motion, the District states as follows:
1. On November 13, 2007, the Hearing Officer in this matter issued Findings and a Ruling on the District’s request for a protective order (“Ruling”). Copy of the Ruling is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
2. In his Ruling, the Hearing
Officer found that the use of electronic means by either party to promote or enhance their
arguments dealing with this case is impermissible. (Ruling p. 3.) The Hearing Officer
further found that any attempt to diffuse information about this case “by some other
means than electronic prior to and during the hearing.., would also be impermissible.”
(Ruling p. 4.)
3. The Hearing Officer found that
information about this case already existed on the internet website www.inslide.com (Warwak’s
personal website) and ordered that no additional information about this case be posted on
that website. (Ruling p. 4.) The Hearing Officer also ordered that information about this
case on the www.inslide.com website be deleted within five (5) days of the receipt
by the parties of the Ruling. (Ruling p. 4.)
4. Consistent with the Findings, the Hearing Officer ruled that no information about any aspect of this case shall be posted on the internet, or diffused to third parties, in any other manner before or during the hearing. (Ruling p. 6.)
5. A brief review of Warwak’s
website, as of November 26, 2007, makes clear that Warwak has violated the Ruling. His
website includes the following postings, among others, directly related to this case.
A. “Fox River Grove Middle School is standing education on its head when it cracks down on instructors who teach our kids about kindness and good health,’ says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. ‘Mr. Warwak is exposing the meat industry’s dirty secrets, and his students have every right to know the truth behind their food choices.”
B. The website posts a photograph
of Warwak leaving the Fox River Grove Middle School accompanied by a police officer
following the September 24, 2007 Board meeting at which his employment was terminated. The
caption under this photograph reads as follows:
“Acme police officers escort art teacher Under Dog out of
http :Ilwww. nwherald . com/articles/2007/09/25/news/local/doc46f8ba0c
3b54d848067682.txt”
The link under this caption connects directly to the same picture with the caption as
originally posted by Warwak as follows:
“Fox River Grove police officers escort art teacher Dave Warwak out of
C. “If Mahaffy agrees to allow Warwak to continue to discuss veganism and other animal related issues, PETA has offered to send each of Warwak’s students a ‘Compassion Care Package’. . .
D. “This morning, PETA fired off a letter to Fox River Grove Middle School Principal Tim Mahaffy urging him to applaud art teacher Dave Warwak for teaching his students about factory farming and other forms of animal abuse that made him go vegan - instead of disciplining and possibly firing Warwak.”
E. “An art teacher at Fox River Grove Middle School said he was kicked out of class by school officials this week because he was teaching students about his vegan lifestyle. .. .They left me no choice, I had to tell the kids the truth.
F. “‘They’re going to be looking for something to fire me for’, said Warwak, who has claimed that he was removed from the classroom Wednesday after distributing materials to students about animal cruelty and veganism.”
G. “Dave Warwak, 44, said District 3 Superintendent Jacqueline Krause and Middle School Principal Tim Mahaffy told him that he was being insubordinate and needed to leave after he refused Wednesday to stop sharing his viewpoints about animal cruelty and veganism in the classroom. ‘When you’re talking about teaching art and leaving out the animals, I can’t do that’, said Warwak, a vegan who referred to Krause and Mahaffy as ‘ardent meat-eaters”.
H. The website also posts pictures
of a controversial display Warwak presented at
A copy of these postings downloaded from Warwak’s website on November 26, 2007 are
attached hereto as Exhibit B.
6. Warwak’s website also
contains numerous links to archived radio interviews and talk shows on which he discussed
this case, including the events at
7. On November 22, 2007, nine days
after the Hearing Officer issued his Ruling, Warwak blatantly violated the Ruling by
appearing on a radio talk show and discussing this case. The program was broadcast on
Vegan Radio, WXOJ-LP,
8. Moreover, during this radio interview, Warwak specifically referenced the Hearing Officer’s Ruling on the protective order, indicating that he was not going to comply with the order (which is also abundantly clear from the fact that he appeared on the talk show and discussed the case).
9. Warwak made the following
statements regarding the Ruling during the November 22, 2007 radio interview:
“Right now they have a gag order on my web site. They told me to delete pages,
anything to do with the case, which is just way overstepping their bounds. You know,
constitutional rights. These same stories and pod casts are on other websites. They can be
on mine too. You know, why single me out and say I have to remove them from mine?”
(Exhibit C at 4:23 - 4:41.)
“So now they’re
trying to leave it out of the internet. When they told me to delete pages, you know, can’t
do that. I changed names and dates and things, but I’m not going to change to delete
pages. .
. . So how could they
sensor me like that? You know, that just doesn’t make sense.” (Exhibit C at
19:45 -
20:10.)
10. In addition, during
the November 22, 2007 interview, Warwak made the following statements about this case,
among others:
• “I was trying to bring
veganism into the classroom. And they didn’t like that at all. And they told me to
stop. And, so I did. And then I had a run in just at the beginning of this school year
where they were hanging up the milk posters year after year. And I had asked that they be
taken down because they are just false and misleading. And that started into this issue of
what can be on the wall and what can be told to kids. And they refused to take the posters
down, so I told the kids the truth. I bought them all Food Revolution books by John
Robbins and, that was my last day in class. They fired me after that.” (Exhibit C at
3:35
- 4:16.)
“They said that [the book I handed out]
was not approved curriculum, and that I was indoctrinating the kids. I was, you know,
telling them to keep it secret. And these are the excuses that they used to fire me.”
(Exhibit C at 4:55 - 5:09.)
• “I even gave it to the
Board of Education at the meeting that they fired me for, and I said look at this and said
talk about the health of the kids and what’s going on in the world. And they refused.
And they wanna stick to technicalities and fire me for X, Y, or Z, when that’s not
even right for them to do that because I was just being honest. You can’t fire
someone for telling the truth, you know.” (Exhibit C at 5:31 - 5:54.)
• “And then they accused me too of keeping a secret, when I’m the one that’s not keeping their secret. It’s their secret. And so they fired me for keeping it a secret and indoctrinating kids, which is insane.” (Exhibit C at 6:12 - 6:25.)
11. Accordingly, it is clear from the material that remains posted on Warwak’s website, and from his November 22, 2007 radio interview, that Warwak has openly and intentionally violated the Hearing Officer’s Ruling.
12. As stated in the District’s
initial request for the protective order, due to Warwak’s previous airing of
information about this matter on the Internet and to other media outlets, the District is
very concerned about the potential exposure of the identities of the student witnesses in
this case, who are minors ages 10 through 14 years, to third persons, media outlets and
the internet, which would serve to intimidate them and expose them to unwarranted
publicity, threats, and dangers from unknown third parties.
Thank you for your attention to
this matter:
Very truly yours,
ROBBINS,
SCHWARTZ, NICHOLAS,
LIFTON & TAYLOR, LTD.
By: Nanci N.
RogeYs
N N R/nep
Enclosure
cc w/encl.: Dr. Jacqueline Krause, Superintendent (Via E-mail and First Class Mail)
Dr. Timothy Mahaffy, Middle School Principal (Via E-mail and First Class Mail)
Mr. David Warwak (Via First Class Mail)
Robert E. Riley
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River Grove\Warwak\Pleadings\Mot for Finding and Sancts 1 .wpd