Well,

I went with SiFu and met with the Community Ed person today.  Or, I should say…”a” Community Ed. Person.  The person we wanted to see was in a meeting.

They politely blew us off.  They took an hour out of their day, listened politely, made sympathetic noises…with the obvious hope that we would feel “heard” and go away.  And by “heard”, I mean “mooo’.  Just keep following the chute to the nice man holding the mallet…

…and then ended the meeting with “well, I’m glad that I was able to give you a chance to vent.”

No, woman, I was not “venting”.

     I was letting you know that a person you employ violated the terms of his contract by gathering personal information on students that he taught due to affiliation with your program.  The terms of the contract that were violated were to protect the students from misuse of their information, and to protect you from being liable for the consequences of the misuse of that information.

     I was trying to point out to you that your failure to enforce that contract could be construed as negligence.  The person you employ violated the contract by gathering personal information…then violated the law by providing that information to people who are sending harassing and threatening letters to me and my child…

     …continuing to employ and support that person is pure negligence.  You are supporting criminal behavior.

     I was trying to tell you that when I go to my child’s school on an errand and run into the wife of Captain Mullet,  and then a couple of weeks later I get a threatening letter, it makes me feel like I am not safe in my own child’s school.

     I was trying to tell you that despite a lifetime of passionate support and advocacy of public and community education, I feel like I am not safe and taken care of by the community I love, support and value.

     I was trying to tell you that I feel like you do not value the safety of your students and that the best way for you to assuage those feelings is to either enforce the contract by persuading the people to stop their misuse of the information…or enforce the contract by terminating the contract due to the violation of the terms.

     Grrrr….

     I’ll not make the obligatory derisive comment about civil servants.  My dad was a civil servant, after all, and a very passionate and dedicated one.  Completely devoted to public health.  My grandmother was a teacher.  I’ve got numerous relatives who are veterans of the military.  I have great admiration and respect people who work for the good of all…

     …and none at all for people who simply worry about if their ass is covered, and let other people twist.