On a separate note, I was dead set on leaving my school and trying to find another job. Recently I decided to stay. I feel like the good outweighs the bad and the consequences for breaking a contract could possibly ruin any chance I have of working at another school here. So, I have decided to focus on the positives and suck it up for another year. I have been bad at communicating what is going on at my school, but I will give a brief summary. A Thai general was brought in to take over the superintendent position. Immigration was called by the office staff in attempts to get the superintendent and her husband ("the Dr.s")fired. The office staff is slowly "quitting" one by one or being relocated. They are often seen crying. The office staff is Thai and in Thailand, Thai people cannot be fired. The Dr.s are supposed to be moved to our staff lounge for reasons other then they are giving us. Oh, and you can often find our administrators hiding in computer labs when immigration comes. Here are a couple of typical, daily mass emails:
Dear Mr. Andrew,
Thank you for taking the time to meet today with the staff and inform us of the plans for a new staff lounge. You seem very sincere in wanting to make TCIS a better place. Unfortunately, I'm afraid your talk may have confused and further alienated some teachers and staff. I can only speak for myself so here are my questions and concerns.
You expressed that we need to build a new staff lounge for the convenience of teachers. Were any teachers asked whether they would find a new lounge located in the canteen more convenient? If it is for our benefit and if it is going to be used by us, it seems that we should be involved in the process and asked how we feel about the change.
You said that a new lounge is for the safety of students as food may be spilled carrying it to the current staff lounge. Have there been any injuries from or complaints of food being spilled in transport this year? Does an entirely new room need to be built to address this if it is an issue, or is there another solution (such as enforcing a no running rule for students)?
(You also mentioned plates disappearing, but I imagine that those are plates currently being brought to classrooms, not the staff lounge. Again, I'm not sure a new room is needed to alleviate the problem - if it is one - of missing plates.)
You said that the current staff lounge space needs to be used for office/administrative purposes. Could you please clarify why this space is needed and how it will be used? It seems that if the office needs more space it would make sense to give them more rooms near the office (maybe the store room or nurse's office) not across the courtyard far from the rest of the office staff.
Finally, the question of timing was brought up at the meeting: why does this need to happen now in the middle of the school year? As a new member of this school community, it feels as though there already have been many changes and disruptions this year. People are concerned about tensions with the office staff and morale schoolwide seems to be going down. There is a sense that we, as a staff, are not included in decision making and are not told the true reasons for decisions that are made.
I think it would be helpful to address these issues.
Thanks for your time.
Dan
And:
Dear all staff,
Yesterday Dec 13, I was assigned to work in the library effective immediately. I asked for the custodians to therefore move my belongings, including my computer to the library. However only my computer screen was brought up. The hard drive was missing. Mr. Oscar said he had to take my hard drive away to have it formatted so MS Windows could be reinstalled. This resulted in all my files to have gone lost. Mr. Oscar was under Mr. Andrew’s instructions. I. therefore, spoke to Mr. Andrew and Mr. Andrew said he was under instructions from the school board, Mr. Andrew admitted he did not inform me before hand that my computer would be taken away for formatting and MS Word re-installation.
What happened to me and my computer could happen to anyone. My question is – “Is this acceptable?” I understand the computer is school property. But what happened to “rights”? Personal rights? What happened to work place and professional etiquette? I should be told first they would do what they did to my computer. This same incident could happen to anyone.
pao
And:
Dear All Staff,
The computer was returned to me yesterday. However, all of the files in it were removed by the formatting of my computer. Therefore, yesterday afterschool i went to the police station and filed a case report on the situation (where my computer was taken and formatted from me without my knowledge of it). This morning, I photocopied the case report and gave it to the people in the office. Upon receiving my case report, Dr. John and Dr. Lalima laugh out loud.
I would like to ask, is this the type of atmosphere we should be working in? This is an international school, and as a school, we should be teaching the students ethics and morality. If our school administrators does not exhibit it, how are we to teach the students within our school.
best regards,
Pao
And:
Dear Mrs. Pao,
You were informed of your new assignment in the library on December 4, 2007 and you said you will remove your things from your office by December 12, 2007. This included your computer files. The broad would like to remind you that the school has assigned you to the library for your own safety.
Since I have only been working here for only one and a half month, I was told by the broad that you have been working at TCIS for many years on a work permit that says you are a Chinese teacher.
You do not have the appropriate qualifications and a teacher certificate; so you put yourself and the school at-risk by staying in the business office. You know this as you have not signed important school documents and Thai staff has signed in for your position. The board is making efforts to follow Thai law and your assignment now matches your work permit.
The board hopes you will cooperate and work in the library to the best of your ability.
Best Regards,
Mr. Andrew Juthapornmanee
Business Manager
And:
Honestly…I am still trying to absorb and understand the logic behind all these…! I am not thinking in terms of the negligence to back up files from our computers simply because I do not think that is the issue here, but instead, the lack of “professionalism” involved in the entire act. I do agree with the others who have expressed their opinions regarding this matter…we are an Educational Institution…we have to behave like one! RAHA and I are probably the last of the Mohicans who have weathered all the “ups and downs” TCIS has gone through in the past 11 years that we’ve been here. Trust me when I say that it has never been easy. A lot of “unacceptable acts and decisions” have been made during those times, yet nothing as severe and unacceptable (in my opinion!) as this. I am not taking sides…I am merely stating facts.
This year, in the Upper School, we have introduced the course Citizenship & Ethics. It’s kind of ironic that something like this should happen now, just when we are “supposedly” trying to develop and instill in our students the idea of moral ethics and the value of respecting others. According to Aristotle, “man becomes just and morally ethical by the performance of his just and morally ethical actions and not his theoretical way of thinking.” My students are starting to get this concept and I myself, being merely human riddled with faults left and right, am trying my best to follow such practice. But when something as appalling as this happens, I cannot help but think of how detrimental this would be to the thinking of my students if ever they find out about it. Furthermore, if they learn that I chose to be silent about it, then I am simply going to be a hypocrite in their eyes for not “walking the talk” that we have been discussing so religiously in our Ethics class…that I cannot accept.
So, for the record, I am simply expressing my own personal opinion regarding this matter…nothing more. Please do not misconstrue this comment of mine as taking sides. I am just practicing what I preach in my class and I’m simply walking the talk. Peace! Have a nice weekend, everyone. CIAO!!!
V A L
_____________________________________________
From: Raha
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2007 7:37 AM
To: Craig; Aoh; All Staff
Subject: RE: my computer
I always hold my thoughts, observed all different kinds of circus happening in TCIS even on the very beginning, 1997 to be exacted. The school has a lot of pains and worst decisions which we think that it’s normal for a new school to experience. I just want you all to know that for 12 years in TCIS I’ve never heard such an “ACTION” like this from an American EDUCATED individual, because I know that western people VALUE their personal things a lot and they don’t want someone to just take things without their PERMISSION. I SAY “THIS IS THE EXTREMELY WORST NEWS I HEARD EVER IN TCIS HISTORY”. We are an educational institution. Let’s act like ONE
And:
Dear All Staff,
I would like to use this email to clear the situation a bit with Mr. Andrew and the staff myself. My computer consists of all the files I have kept since my 11 years + here. The files consist not only of school documents, but also projects I have conducted at TCIS, my homework in my studies of Education, and also my written experiences throughout these years. There is no one, but myself, who may know whether these files, documents, and my computer were necessary or not, for some of my personal documents were in it too. I hope Mr. Andrew would be willing to tell everyone the hidden truth behind this whole situation of formatting my computer without my knowledge. Also, I really hope that Mr. Oscar would be willing to tell everyone what really happened and who was the one who instructed you to format my computer.
On the other hand, I would like to thank everyone who has given me support and care during this time and also to apologize for wasting your time in reading these e-mails.
I would be strong, and I love you all.
Best regards,
Pao
And:
Dear Mr. Andrew,
As you have said, you have only been here for a month and a half, do you know what the real situation is? Therefore, in the future, before you send the e-mails, please investigate clearly on the truth of the situation. Also, may you please ask Ms. Cream regarding the work permit and what the rules of the Thai law are. And please ask Mr. Stephen what is the real reason why I have to move to the library. Also, I have never told you nor anyone else that I would be removing my things from my office by December 12, 2007 and would be moving to the Library. I hope you would stop creating false statements, and stop lying to the people of the school.
Also you have stated in the e-mail that I do not have the proper qualifications and a teacher certificate and would put the school at-risk by staying in the business office. However, according to the Thai law, are the administrators and other foreign members of the office qualified to be in their position? I hope you would be willing to tell the staff and the members of the school the truth based on this situation. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Pao
THESE ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES
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