Day 61-Governor Newsom reinstates the mask mandate in California

B and I and friends hike East Walker Ranch today…

Online instruction after the hike…

2/14/22. Monday

9:30-10:00 – I’m awake and I go downstairs to say good morning to the animal. She’s waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, wagging her tail, with her toy in her mouth, which means she has to go potty. Unfortunately, she had to poop, too, and did so, right next to the front door. We go outside straight away and she goes potty. Return inside: coffee for me, turkey for her.

10:00-11:30 – I check email at College No. 1  and discover that the “in house” Tracing Dept. [ONE employee who College No. 1 pulled from a clerical position in another department to put into this newly created one] emailed me on Saturday [I don’t check my email on weekends], informing me that ONE of the FOUR students who routinely attend my F2F class had Covid and infected the class last Monday.  As a result, my class is in quarantine until 2/18/22.

-Do the math. I wasn’t notified until Day 5 of the outbreak and I don’t check my email on weekends, which means, I didn’t find out until SEVEN days AFTER I was exposed to a 3-hour viral load in my tin-can classroom. Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest social gatherings of the year for American households, right after Xmas and Thanksgiving, and I went to a Super Bowl party, where I remained for 6 hours, oblivious to the fact that I was potentially infecting everyone I came in contact with.  And this doesn’t just apply to Super Bowl Sunday. Conceivably, I should have been quarantining since 2/7/22, but I’ve been everywhere over the past 7 days.

-The “Tracing Dept.” [one employee] mandates that I complete a tracing form survey before I’m allowed back on campus. It’s lengthy and takes around 15 minutes to complete. The questions range from “Have I been in contact with anyone who has Covid?  If yes, who? When? Do you know who they interacted with?, etc.” You can see the problem with the survey, right?  I don’t know which student was positive because I’m not privy to that information which is a major problem when contact tracing is involved. As a result, I don’t who I’ve been in contact with with regard to a Covid infection and I don’t know who she’s been in contact with. The biggest question of all is this: Contact tracing, now?  This should have been implemented after College No. 1 opened its doors for the first time in Summer 2021, when students and staff alike were falling out, left and right…especially when Omicron hit. 

I find it odd that our Tracing Dept. [one employee] is taking this exposure so seriously when there is NO vax mandate at this school. So, Administration is placing contact tracing above vaccination?! I’ve said this before…this is the only California College I know that has NO vax mandate on the books.  Nobody (teachers or students) knows who is vaxed and who isn’t. College No. 1 might as well be located in Georgia or Arizona.

-Although I just found out that my class is under quarantine, ironically, today is the day I was going to inform the FOUR F2F students that my car wouldn’t start and advise them to convert to “online instruction” with the rest of the class. I’m scheduled to go on a hike with B. and friends and I don’t want to miss it.

-I send the email blast to everyone that my car won’t start but that it’s business as usual for the rest of the class EXCEPT, of course, for the FOUR F2F assholes who keep coming to the brick-and-mortar. I’m afraid I’ll be committing a HIPAA violation if I tell the class we’re in quarantine, so I don’t say anything about the exposure.

-In the midst of all of this, AFTER I’ve already completed the survey, “patient 0” emails me that the Tracing Dept [one employee] informed her that she tested positive for Covid. I discover that “patient 0” is my OSD student.  

Spoiler Alert – I find out two weeks later that two of the F2F students were unable to figure out what to do, even though I told them to report to the Discussion Board and follow the online instructions. One of the students, who currently has a D in the class, said she couldn’t find the Zoom link [there is no Zoom and I never mentioned Zoom in the Discussion Board instructions] and the second student is just dumb.  My F2F high school student figures it out, but “Patient 0” later emails me that she ran out of time watching the assigned 90-minute video and was unable to take the Video Quiz because it closed at 5:30. I immediately email her the quiz [she’s an OSD student and I don’t want any trouble] and she promptly fails it.   

Uh…Patient 0…you’re actually going to complain about having not had enough time to take the Video Quiz when you never watched the video in the first place? The Video Quiz only covers the first 30 minutes of the documentary, which means she lied…she didn’t  watch the documentary at all, then tried to blame me for not giving her enough time to complete the Video Quiz… I’m sure she never dreamed I would email the quiz to her. So now I know you’re a liar AND you failed the quiz. How stupid can you be? 

-Currently, I’m banned from stepping on Campus for the next 4 days based on the instructions from College No. 1’s Tracing Dept. [one employee].  Please, God, can the quarantine be extended for the rest of the semester? [semester ends on May 5].

11:30-12:30 – Shower. Lotion. Light make-up. Hiking uniform. Baseball cap with sequins, so I’ll be spotted if I get lost. I listen to What a Day.

12:00-B. arrives 30 minutes early. I’m not ready yet so he waits in the car.

12:30 – 2:00-B. and I drive to East Walker Ranch – Open Space, where we meet L. and R. We hike the loop and have a good time.

2:00-5:30 – Return home and I set up my Core Class for the online students. Today’s agenda is AUDIO Lecture with the Google slides; a documentary; and a Video Quiz.

-While I’m responding to emails, one of my students from Specialty Class 1B [the 6:00 class] emails me ten times in a 30-minute period about stupid shit concerning the upcoming paper. I’ve said in prior blog posts that many students treat emails like texts, sending one after the other in rapid succession. She won’t stop and I send reply after reply, all the while making sure that my Core Class students are on task. Eventually, I inform the student that I’m in the middle of instructing a class and the number of emails she has sent to me in a 30-minute time frame is excessive.

-The student then emails me and requests a Zoom meeting for Wednesday at 1:00.  Can you believe that?! This student is dictating the time and date of the meeting with no regard for my schedule.  I wonder if she would interact with a male teacher the same way. Like I always do when a student asks me for a Zoom meeting, I respond that I’m an adjunct instructor, I don’t have office hours, and I’m only available after class on Mondays; HOWEVER, since her request is such short notice [2 hours before class starts] I have another obligation tonight and will be unable to schedule a Zoom meeting with her after class. Additionally, next Monday is a holiday, so it will be a full two weeks before we can meet. I inform the student that she’s welcome to email me her questions.

-Core Class rolls on.

-I check the high school where I’m teaching tomorrow to view their mask guidelines. Everyone is vaxed and masked and the high school is requesting that all staff upload their Vax cards to the database, which I do.

-I take Attendance and update the grade book.

-I set up the course content for Specialty Class 1B. It runs in 30 minutes.

6:00-9:00 – Class begins and the same student resumes emailing me, sending email after email trying to assert that I gave her incorrect information about a variety of topics.  You know the type.  Here’s an example:

-Towards the end of class, I assign a 2019 video starring Dev Patel and Armie Hammer. The student says that although I said it was a 2019 video, the only similar reference she can find is a 2018  video, and she doesn’t want to accidentally watch the wrong video, especially because I said it was a 2019 video. You know it’s the right one, you dumb bitch, because I told the class the names of the actors who are starring in it.

I reply that production for this video began in 2018, but the release date was 3-28-19. The student doesn’t respond.

-She tries again.  The student downloaded the video using the link I provided, but the movie is in a foreign language.  What should she do now, especially since I provided the incorrect link?

I reply that I provided three different links for streaming this video and that all of the options are in ENGLISH. I tell her to try another link or simply convert the language for whatever link she selected into ENGLISH, using “Settings” because that’s always an option. The student doesn’t respond.

6:30-7:00 – I take the dog for a walk.

-She tries again. The student says on page 2 of the Syllabus, I note that the book the students are supposed to read for the upcoming Socratic Seminar essay assignment is 275 pages. All of her research shows that the book is actually 240 pages. How does she know which book to read when I provided the incorrect page count? I respond that due to different formats, the large print edition is around 275 pages; the regular print edition is 240 pages; and the free PDF version is 140 pages, so whichever version you select, read that version in its entirety, you f—king moron. The student doesn’t respond.

-Round and round it goes.

See…you won’t win because I NEVER STOP.  In my entire life, the ONLY person who could match me email for email in her never-ending quest to show I was in error (but NEVER was) as she tried desperately to initiate disciplinary measures against me, was my old supervisor, J.  Over the course of 2 years, J. and I shared hundreds of email threads, totaling well over 1000 emails. The harassment was so pervasive that I reported her to the brass and HER supervisor finally told her to stop emailing me. I was eventually able to transfer to another office.

Towards the end of my stay there, J. continued to email unfounded allegations of policy breeches I supposedly made, or accused me of mistakes that never transpired. I patiently responded, at length, to every allegation sometimes sending J. former emails where she contradicted herself or actually told other employees to complete various tasks…not me. In the waning few months of my stay at her office, J., completely frustrated, actually ordered me, in yet another email, to stop responding to her emails. Uh, stop responding?  To unfounded allegations?  I don’t think so.  That’s when you know the person in question is truly nuts…when they fabricate accusations and then instruct you not to respond to the bogus charges. No. I resumed my email campaign with gusto in response to HER email campaign. 

-I send an email blast to the students reminding them that their paper is due in two weeks.

-Towards the end of class, the students start sending frantic emails that they will not have enough time to watch a 90-minute video, because class is scheduled to end soon and, as a result, will score a D or F on the Video Quiz.  The student in question whom I’ve been dealing with ALL DAY jumps on the bandwagon and begins emailing me in earnest, voicing her opinion. Uh, students, we’re in Week 6 and none of you have figured out that the questions to your Video Quizzes are front-loaded and only cover the first 30 minutes of the video? Here’s what you do, assholes. Class ends at 9:05.  At 8:50, take the f—king quiz.

-I check the online gradebook at 9:30. Everybody scored a 9 or a 10 on the Video Quiz…out of 10 questions.

-I take Attendance and email those students who did not sign in on the Discussion Board that they will be receiving 0s on today’s assignments. One of my worst students email me that she was “in class” the entire time but for some reason was unable to log in on the Discussion Board., Yes, because you were LATE.  Class starts at 6:00 and the Discussion Board locks at 6:15. I note that she never emailed me to say she was having technical difficulties. The student says it won’t happen again.

9:30 – Class dismissed.

9:30-11:00 – I make a spaghetti-squash lasagna, which turns out to be a huge mistake. It takes way too much time and I’m supposed to wake up at 5:00 tomorrow because it’s my first day of school at the high school class. ALSO, I can’t stop grazing while I’m cooking and I eat too many tortilla chips and hummus. Unfortunately, L. bought four different bags of chips, one of my biggest weaknesses. For me, at my age, carbs of any kind will result in weight gain.  And eating this late at night?  This will not end well.

-Kitchen duty and I pack my lunch bag and ready my coffee.

11:00-1:00 – I review the Syllabus for tomorrow’s class, make a few changes, and post it to the Canvas shell. I listen to Maintenance Phase the entire time.

-I update the Module dates for the headings in Canvas.

-I update the due dates for the first 3 weeks of assignments.

-I sign my contract for College No. 2 and scan it to the Dean’s secretary.

-I make sure I have my lecture notes for tomorrow and put my Filofax folder on the counter.

-I pick out clothes for tomorrow.

1:00-2:00 – Nighttime routine. Bed. I set my alarm for 5:00.