Cupertino, 2/16/05: We, the Parents, a grassroots group of Parents at Stevens Creek Elementary School, in Cupertino, reaffirmed its confidence in Principal Patricia Vidmar after the school district’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought against her and the CUSD board by 5th grade teacher Stephen Williams. Upon reviewing the district's response, the group reiterated its support for the principal, the district and the school board, and is confident that this lawsuit will be quickly resolved.

Maria Segal, co-founder of the group, said that "Before the lawsuit and the ensuing media frenzy hit us, this was an employment issue, being handled by the school, and we, parents, would have much preferred not to be forced to rush to the defense of our children and their school as a result of it."

The parents also applaud the Principal's tireless effort to keep the school running smoothly through these turbulent times. "Principal Vidmar is a passionate advocate for students and teachers," said Katja de Groot, a parent with children at the school. "The media frenzy resulting from the lawsuit has taken a terrible toll on our whole community and, despite this, Patti has done a stellar job of minimizing the impact on the students," de Groot added.

In the meantime, the parents continue to call on the ADF to retract their original misleading press release and to issue a public correction of the record. "We have politicians of national stature like Newt Gingrich, Bill Simon and Wally Herger still repeating the original headline, despite the fact that the ADF admitted through a 'stealth-mode' press release that the school never banned the Declaration of Independence," stated Jean Marie Danielson of We, the Parents.

Nathalie Schuler Ferro, media relations volunteer for the group, stated that "As long as the ADF continues to maintain this proven falsehood on their website, some will continue to harass and threaten our school and we will continue to place primary responsibility for all hostile acts against our children and school squarely with the ADF". Schuler Ferro continued "It's not enough to quietly denounce the threats in a cynical attempt to limit liability. The ADF is morally obligated to be proactive when issuing a correction of the record and they must give it the same wide publicity to ensure the same coverage given the original, factually inaccurate and devastating press release. Otherwise, they’re just paying lip service to their claim of concern for the safety of our children."

The group’s website can be found at www.stevenscreekparents.org . The district’s motion to dismiss can be found at http://www.stevenscreekparents.org/MotionToDismiss-pdf(000580.PDF