news
One policy, adopted Tuesday, would limit any electronic communication between teachers and students to school matters. It applies to text messages on cell phones, e-mails and other social networking.
Another policy prohibits fraternizing between school employees and students “on a personal level.”
The Commercial Appeal in Memphis reports that two school district workers have been charged with sexual battery for allegedly being involved with female students under the age of 18.
I still remember the quail hunts with a student up and down Bear Creek Bottom, and with another one in Chico Bottom, and squirrel hunts on the ridges between Houlka and Cane Creeks. Silly us! We didn't know we were doing anything wrong. We were just country boys separated by ten years in birth dates, out enjoying our common heritage.
And the hay hauling... I paid better than going rates, and the guys seemed to enjoy it. I recollect the stamina and endurance of some, the sappiness and weakness of others. I watched some of them change from sissified couch potatoes into hardened, efficient laborers. They saw me, soaked with sweat, hoisting 90-pound bales above my head to them in the ridge of a barn in 100 degree heat. Didn't seem to affect our relationship when I stood before them in shirt and tie teaching them algebra.
The idea that there was anything improper or potentially career-ending would have struck us all as some kind of a sick joke.
There are some things better about these days, but there are so many others that leave me looking around wondering just what kind of universe I've awakened in.