Policy Schmolicy

But for now, I have to focus on work.

The kids are home on their inconvenient half day and I am on a grant from my boss who is not a fan of the "working from home" arrangement. He is sure that "working from home" is code for "minding my blackberry and being minimally available while accomplishing nothing of value and actually doing housework and still collecting a paycheck." If I ever want to be granted this arrangement again, I need to demonstrate otherwise. I have noticed that he has put tracers on his emails to me. Each one asked for a read receipt. It's a little insulting to be truthful. But I play the game. What choice do I have?

Later that evening I open my file and look at the tired old copy of the policy Rotelli had provided. The one he was going on and on about a few weeks earlier. The one that had been tweaked and revised and updated and revisited over and over to ensure that they were keeping pace with the ever changing face of Bullying. He seemed to have been proud of the fact that he was familiar with the term "sexting." I should have asked him about YouTube.

I wish I had read the policy while I was still in the office. Or maybe not. That would have started a shit-storm of epic proportions.

It is dated 1998. 1998. More than a decade ago. How could it be in any way current? Cell phones were not even that widely used by teenagers then. How could it address sexting.

It was offered as a Bullying policy, but reads as a complaint procedure and the cover memo from the Superintendent states that it is a guideline for student complaints against students. It is nothing short of a complete joke. It is a Harassment policy borrowed from Corporate America and focuses on "unwanted sexual gestures." Puh-lease.

I need to respond. But I need to percolate on this a bit. Instead I take to Facebook and write:

"Met with two of the lamest school administrators today, who frankly, would not recognize an effective Bullying Policy if it walked up and bloodied their noses. Escalating the issue to the next level..."

Post.