PDA

Apparently, Public Displays of Affection (PDA) have been running rampant around our school...or so one teacher would like to think.

Next weekend, my high school will put on its fall musical, Oklahoma!. As you may or may not know, during the course of the musical, some of the characters are required to kiss.

Well, one of our teachers who seems to do everything to the letter of the law (and who, I might add, is not affiliated with the Theatre Department) decided upon hearing this that the students playing those characters should be written up for PDA.

Yes, technically the school handbook does say that "[the] rules govern student conduct: in school, ...[and] while attending school sponsored and school supervised activities" (p. 39). And it has a whole paragraph stating that "public displays of affection...will result in disciplinary action" (p. 8)

It neglects to mention, however, that it is the duty of the staff members present at such an event to handle any disciplinary problems which may or may not arise, and to use their discretion as to whether or not a rule has been broken.

Perhaps that was the point this teacher was trying to make; I certainly don't know, nor does anybody else. Regardless, when he heard that the students were required to kiss, he immediately acted, solely upon hearsay.

Everyone was furious; emails were flying across the building. I happened to get a chance to read some as I was in the choir director's office when this arose. In my opinion, the funniest of these was from the director of the musical, saying that we didn't want to know what his blood pressure was at that moment.

The prinicpal brought up a good point: do we slap football players with detentions for aggressive behavior every time they tackle someone?

Needless to say, this teacher has done some controversial things in the past. Some people like him, some people hate him, and some people have no clue—it depends on the day. Oh, well; he'll be retiring soon, and then none of this will matter.