When Worlds Collide

George Costanza explained it quite clearly. There was Fun George, and there was Relationship George. Those two worlds could never collide, as one would then cease to exist.

So it was when I logged on to my email at home yesterday. In our district, we have a 4-day weekend this President's Day Weekend. We voted to not have a week off for mid-winter break in favor of getting out earlier for summer. Of course, the snow storm followed by the ice and wind storm took care of that. Now we will be getting out one day later then we did last year. But I digress.

Anyway, as I was saying, we were able to leave school at 1 pm yesterday, since we had conferenced all week and stayed late on Thursday night to conference with families where both parents work. We do this every year: The teachers put in a late night of conferencing from 4-7 pm, and then on Friday we leave as soon as the kids are gone. Yesterday, a good number of us left by 1:30, I'm sure, and the school quickly emptied after that.

So that brings us to last night. I log on to msn.com, and there is an email from a fellow teacher at my school. I opened it up, and she said, "Why is the school sending this email to our home?" She had forwarded the email, and I skimmed it. It looked like an email we always get before a break warning us to turn off all computers, etc. I replied that I did not know why. I then checked the To Addresses, and saw an interesting mix of school and home email addresses. Then I saw my home email address. I checked my junk mail, and there (appropriately, if you ask me...) was the email from our school. I pressed reply, and cc'd Mr. Principal, and asked why this email was sent to our home email addresses, because we were home and could do nothing about turning off anything that was left on.

Then I re-read the email, and it wasn't telling us what to turn off...Instead, it was informing us that the office staff had gone around into rooms switching off the power strips and unplugging them, because they think over 4 days this will drain a lot of electricity and will cost the district tons of money. The email said if we get to school and our computers don't turn on, to check the power strip before calling IT for help. In a way, I thought I could see why they sent it to our house...And then I got back to reality.

No, I thought. The office, including Mr. Principal, has NO RIGHT to invade my home life like this. I am on a break. I am not being paid. I am only paid for the days I work. Therefore, when I'm home for this break, I am not an employee. And I don't appreciate getting emails from my work place to my home place. These two worlds shouldn't collide.

So I sent Mr. Principal an email: Hey Mr. Principal, I'm guessing you were a Seinfeld fan...There was an episode where George was describing his two worlds: Fun George, and Relationship George. He didn't ever want those two worlds to collide.

I think that is what happened with this email. I can understand why it went home, I guess, but it wasn't life or death. All it did is force our "school world" onto our "private, off the contract world." It felt to many staff members as an invasion of their privacy...To be told "All Staff-Very Important...Please Read..." when we are at home on our non-paid break.

It should have gone to our staff emails. Many staff check their school emails on weekends, and would have seen it. Also on Wednesday regardless of the power strips, the lap tops would work. A sign at our mailboxes also would have sufficed.

Not sure there is anything at all in the contract about school contacting an employee at home while they are on a relaxing, away from the hassles of school break. But personally, unless it is life and death, I don't wish to be contacted by school on my personal at-home email.

Plus, today I was talking with another union person, who asked how the office got our home email addresses. I said I assumed we gave them when we filled out an emergency form. She said, then they should be used in emergency only, and this wasn't one.

I then sent an email out to my members, telling them that I was going to send an email to Mr. Principal (who I'm sure ordered the email sent to our homes) and the office staff telling them to not send anything from school to my home email UNLESS it was an emergency. My hope is the office/Mr. Principal gets flooded with emails like this.