AT LEAST, so croon the folks at SOCCCD Human Resources.Maybe this has happened to you too. Maybe not.
Yesterday, May 29, 2007 (dates are muy importante in this narrative), I arrived home after my first yoga class in months, energized and ready to cook some pasta with browned butter and mizithra cheese—only to discover the clock was ticking on my violation of Education Code 87408.6, which mandates that all classified and academic employees of a community college district undergo a skin test or x-ray of the lungs for tuberculosis (TB), at least once every four years.
Apparently, I have been exposing students and staff to the possibility of TB since April 26, 2007, four years after the date of my last TB test!.
Yikes.
A letter that arrived by post (picked up on the way up the hill from yoga class) and dated May 24 (delivery delayed, no doubt, by the Memorial Day holiday), informed me that a test (a skin test or x-ray) must be performed: "you must submit proof of clearance within fifteen (15) days of the date of this memo."
Or else?
While the butter was browning and the water was boiling, I consulted my calendar and discovered that the deadline (according to the 15 days stipulated by letter) was Friday June 8. The letter informed me that the IVC Health and Wellness Center is open for testing purposes (Drop-in! No appointment necessary!) only on Monday and Tuesday—since I received the letter on Tuesday evening, the next opportunity would be next Monday—except that I am going out of town this weekend and plan on returning late Monday. Tuesday it is then—and then a return visit to campus on Thursday to show my arm and make the Friday deadline. Whew. That was close.
That is, if I am negative for TB. Who knows? The last two times I took the test I had been inadvertently exposed to TB through one of my students (letters, unidentified students, tests, then clearance).
All Mona Lisa Quesadilla can say it that it is a good thing that I am in town to receive this message and not on tour with my one woman show about Modesta Avila, Orange County's first felon.
A little backstory and a shameless plug for the show, which can be seen throughout the summer in laundromats along the coast: In 1889, twenty-year-old Avila, irate that the Santa Fe Railroad had never paid for running their line through her mother's land, strung a clothesline across the tracks as a form of protest. Besides, she complained, the trains were noisy and dirty and their presence interfered with the ability of the family's chickens to lay eggs. (Feminist scholars take note: Avila chose to use a clothesline, an apparatus traditionally and primarily used by women, as her tool of resistance.)
During the two trials that ensued, Avila was subjected to innuendo about her moral character (always a winning strategy where women on trial are concerned) and finally was convicted and sentenced to three years in San Quentin. She died in prison after two.And now back to my original story. I wonder about my colleagues who are not in town. For example, the life science prof across the hall is living it up in some villa in Tuscany. And one of my she-ros has been taken for a romantic and mysterious European idyll. Many others are simply unplugged and out of here. The rest of us will meet next week, no doubt, in the bright foyer of the IVC Health and Wellness Center, one of the cheerier places on campus.
But inquiring minds want to know why we weren't informed of this earlier in the year, say before our 4 years were up instead of after? Why couldn't the letter be sent out before the academic year was over instead of now? What happens to those folks whose 15 days will be up before they even open their letters?
But Mona is a good girl in terms of public health. She understands the real threat of TB (and yes, news junkie that she is, she knows we are living during a time of increased awareness about TB) and though she complains here about protocol, she'll go and roll up her sleeve and await the needle's prick.
—~written by Mona Lisa Quesadilla (what were her parents thinking?) on the morning of May 30th (the real Memorial Day)
32 comments:
Whose responsibility is it to keep an employee's TB status up-to-date?
Isn't it the employee's?
Oh, brother; as if we can all remember these things for years at a time--NOT!!! If HR was concerned enough to track the TB tests after they had already expired, it certainly should have tracked them in time for people to keep their tests up to date.
I must admit I'm sick of the contrarian comments that appear on the blog nowadays that are clearly there just for the sake of disagreeing with the blog authors in any form possible. give it a rest, for cryin' out loud; get a life.
Reb Girl, you have my sympathies.
Get a life indeed.
Good point, 12:27. I expected a response such as: "well, it's your fault if you got tb so fuck you," or something equally erudite.
The Avil story is worthy of further attention--has anyone ever written about it in more detail?
Ha, ha, ha, ha!!! You guys are funny!
The Modesta Avila piece is part of my ongoing series entitled "The Real Housewives of the OC: Profiles in Courage."
The second one will profile Sylvia Mendez, who, as an 8-year-old living in Westminster in 1946 was instrumental in ending segregation in public schools. The case set precedent for Borwn v. Board of Education seven years later.
Whose responsibility is it? HR or ours? Since hers is expired already...aren't people at risk being around her?
A brief biography and a drawing of Modesta Avila by Tony Ese Brown appeared in the 1993 issue of The Ear.
The Ear?
They got you - and now you're done for!
Shouldn't HR inform folks BEFOrE their TB window has expired?
(I don't think it's the employees' responsibility to keep track of this stuff BTW.)
Who would get TB, 6:28, you or HR? Why is it NOT your responsibility to take care of yourself?
Thursday, May 31, 2007
New school district chief quits
Dennis Smith says he will not take over as superintendent.
By SAM MILLER
The Orange County Register
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO - The new superintendent of Capistrano Unified School District announced late Wednesday that because of "uncertainty and instability" in the district, he had changed his mind, leaving the district's top position vacant.
Hey, Chunk! Here's your chance, buddy. I'm sure you have the leadership acumen to get Capo Unified back on the "excellence" track because of your years of critical thinking at SOCCCD. Take on the challenge, Chunkmeister. Put your money where your mouth is and has been. Good luck!
mona, mona, mona, don't you love the guys who ignore what a woman has to say in order to wank off?
the least they could do if keep it to themselves (taht's asking too much tho) or the appropriate blog post or start their own G-D blog.
8:16,
You just don't appreciate Mr. One Note.
Well, actually few of us do...still, I (and I know others do) get a kick out of the fact that the guy just can't stay away.
I think he's online checking us out more than anyone.
It's a hoot when you think about it.
8:16, what women have to say is usually so insignificant I could care less what you think.
So much for Madame Curie, Virginia Woolf, and Emily Dickinson, eh?
what a guy!
yes, that's the SOCCCD spirit that we all know so well (just ask Cely!)
yes, after ten years of Raghu, that's what permeates the place....
"I must admit I'm sick of the contrarian comments that appear on the blog nowadays that are clearly there just for the sake of disagreeing with the blog authors in any form possible. give it a rest, for cryin' out loud; get a life..."
Hank,
Hey, you've just perfectly described what your lot does every day to the SOCCCD and it’s BOTs! Ain't that the pot calling the kettle balck?
You know, 4:15, there's a huge difference between pointing out cronysim and corruption, and just being an asshole.
By the way, we all have typos here and there but look at your "it's" usage.
4:57, thanks for the lesson on typos. Since you’ve made the assertion, why don’t you show us all the “cronysim” (you misspelled it BTW) and corruption? Please give us an example. So according to you, the people who challenge all the inaccuracies and untruths on this blog are assholes? That’s laughable and clearly exposes how your bunch commonly resorts to using fallacies like ad hominem and slippery-slope when attempting to make valid arguments. LOL, LOL and LOL
Dear mona, mona, mona,
What's wrong with wanking off? -- lot of fun if you ask me!
Chunk Wheeler is a wank off.
geez, Patrick. of course. now I get it. It all (egads) comes back to me (so to speak).
Thanks 7:07 for actually spotting the irinically (oops!) used typo, which is, again, not the same as a complete misunderstanding of grammar and contractions.
Chunk has done a fine job setting forth all the facts, so go ahead and read the archives and then come back after mom lets you back on the computer. (The use of LOL is a dead giveaway.)
Whats all this talk about TB? I thought he moved on to better things after he dumped wendy?
Yeah, how about that Felonious Monk? What a great musician!
Thelonius Monk. Moron.
I knew that you idiot! It was a JOKE! I guess you didn't get it?
HR is supposed to notify the employee - they must be short-handed - I expect they'll ask for additional staff at the next board meeting just so they can keep these notifications done in a timely manner. Like HR needs more staff - when was the last time Payroll, Accounting, Purchasing or the Admissions Offices were staffed adequately? Hey - let's throw release time in there too. Just accept that some departments have plenty of staff and just aren't expected (or required) to perform their responsibilities in a timely manner.
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