I Knew What They'd Do. So I Recorded It

Before a scheduled Google Meet with Debbie Rougeux (Administrator) and Elizabeth Schmidt (RN, ADPS), I made the decision to legally record it. 

Under New York State law, it is not illegal to record a conversation as long as one party to the conversation consents—which, in this case, was me. This applies even in the workplace, as long as the recording does not involve a student protected under FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).

To be clear, this was a meeting between employees—no students were involved. I followed the law. In contrast, Elizabeth previously asked me to record a student’s private counseling session, which would have been a clear violation of FERPA. I refused.

They were late to the meeting. I had logged in on time and sat waiting, which, unfortunately, wasn’t surprising. I was used to waiting on Debbie to arrive, even for meetings involving serious matters. When they finally joined, they logged in together from the same device. That changed the tone immediately—it didn’t feel like a balanced discussion. It felt like I was being cornered. Two people, same screen, facing one employee. The imbalance was obvious.

From the start, the tone was dismissive. Debbie spent the first half of the meeting eating on camera and barely acknowledged me. She didn’t make eye contact while I spoke and showed little engagement throughout. It came across as intentional disrespect—an effort to provoke.

Well—this is my reaction. Documented, calm, and public.

I’ve previously blogged about this same meeting, including how I stood my ground while reading a written statement I had prepared in advance. At one point, I paused to ask, “Can you still see me?”—because I was reading from my screen and didn’t want to accidentally close the meeting window. They confirmed they could.

At the very beginning of the meeting, I attempted to turn on subtitles to help with comprehension, since I rely heavily on lip reading due to my hearing impairment. They were fully aware of this. But as soon as they began speaking over one another, the captions overlapped and cut off mid-sentence. I said out loud, “Okay, that won’t work,” and turned them off—right in front of them. They saw the issue firsthand and briefly adjusted after I brought it up. But before long, the same overlapping and crosstalk resumed.

As expected, they continued with familiar behavior: interrupting, dominating the conversation, and cycling back into the same communication habits that made it difficult to follow. During the discussion, Elizabeth made a comment about being concerned for students with hard lives. Debbie followed by saying she had “never been poor a day in her life”—then laughed. It was an inappropriate and dismissive response that revealed exactly how disconnected they are from the people they claim to care about.

They also attacked my character during the meeting. Rather than address the substance of my concerns, they attempted to shift blame and undermine my professionalism. All of it was recorded.

The recording captured my words, their behavior, and their tone. It confirmed what I already suspected: this meeting was never about resolving anything. It was about control, damage control, and making me feel small.

Their conduct in this meeting directly contributed to the hostile work environment I experienced, particularly as an RN Instructor with a documented hearing impairment. The dismissive tone, the character attacks, and the deliberate attempts to provoke were not isolated. They were part of a larger pattern—and I have the evidence.

If they ever try to deny or bury that meeting, they should know—every word, every reaction, every attempt to spin the truth was documented.

And I kept the receipts.

Stay tuned. Much more to come.

-K