Another missed opportunity to do the right thing...

NEW DIRECTIVE:  The kids are to sleep under their sheets.  OK... we tell them this, a number of times.  They KNOW the expectation.  BUT... there's problems.

Do the 2-10 JCO staff monitor this when they can watch them all go to bed at 9:00?  I'D say yes, it's their responsibility.  So, by 10:00 the kids who have chosen not to sleep between the sheets can be appropriately consequenced (at the on duty JCO staff/s discretion) for their behavior... kinda like it USED to be when they chose to wear black shorts.  Sigh.

Anyhow... I recently gave ALL the kids one ZERO for sleeping outside their sheets (not being in the right place at the right time) one night, except one, a stage YES youth that seems to have a bit more sense that most of his peers.  They KNEW the expectation, they CHOSE not to heed it and giving them any higher score seemed WAY too generous.  The Tao was served.

PROBLEM IS -- I've lost count of the times now that the relieving JCO 5 has come in and changed all the scores... the zeros become fours... the kids make thier day, things look good, no one is really asked to be accountable or try to be firm, fair, and consistant -- but it's just WRONG.  Obviously, changing offical legal records by someone who did NOT EVEN WORK THE SHIFT is plain and simple ILLEGAL.  -I- don't just haul off and change a kid's school scores, you know?  -I- don't try to second-guess my fellow JCO's, but I do question the integrity and honesty of altering paperwork to reflect... what?  In the case of the sheets situation, it's either Do or Not Do.  Did they get under the sheet?  OK.  That's probably worth a 3 or 4.  It's just EXPECTED THEY WILL, but if they don't, there are no shades of grey here.  How the hell can blatant non-compliance rate a 4?!?

Now my mind is changed due to this happening yet again, and my way of doing things will change.  The kids apparently deserve 4's for non-compliance, so why not give them all 5's for everything, all the time??  WHY NOT??  Even the best behaved kids on the dorm really don't measure up to a score of 5 for hardly anything, if you read the criteria closely... right?  I'm sure the supervisory JCO's will NEVER adjust the kid's scores that I give them DOWNWARDS, so at least giving them all 5's ensures the scores I write down will remain the legal and true documentation the State insists on.  Seems fairly sure I can explain and/or try to rationalize/bullshit my reasoning for pencil whipping the 410 sheets than can someone who changes the scores -- without informing ME in any way of what's been done -- or why, or what BETTER to do.  Can you say "communication break down?"  No, I didn't think so.  Happens all the time.  I've tried and tried to bring up concerns to supervisors and again and again I'm fed a line, told to be quiet, given the runaround and ignored.  Sound familar?

A very sad situation, this is.  I was thrilled to hear of the new directive, since it's EXACTLY what NEEDS TO BE DONE around here.  The admin needs to jumpstart the system with small steps like the sheets directive, and MAKE IT STICK.  That means close collaboration with the JCO 1-4's since WE'RE actually the ones who will be responsible for documentating compliance and providing consequences.  This is a easy and simple thing to do, and I don't think I'm speaking just for myself by saying this is what us JCO's are HUNGRY FOR.  The black shorts fiasco, the marching fiasco, the non-zero tolerance for soooo many things is due to Admin not drawing a line in the sand and saying something like -- "Our JCO's have been tasked to draw a line with your piss poor behavior.  Pass at your own risk.  Go over the line and you lose your privileges. The DORM loses its privileges -- no if's, and's, or but's.  Non-compliance means NO TV, games, cards, radios, outdoor rec... and you can just FORGET about cookouts and movies with popcorn.  If overall dorm behavior improves and is consistant for a number of days/weeks (not hours) then we may discuss these matters."  And for each violation, WHATEVER it is -- we JCO's can work out what we will NOT budge on -- they will lose all these comforts for a day or better yet a week or more.  What's fair is fair.  Now, THAT would ensure compliance!!

But no... no, we equivocate because we're told what to do -- but not how to do it.  I'm not STOOPID.  Tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it for the most part.  Explain WHY you want me to do something, get me on board, and I'll run with it!!    

As long as clear policy implimentation and other information isn't  provided, honest questions are not honestly answered, and frank feedback not solicited --  we're going to continue dithering around, just hoping that somehow, of its own accord, situations are going to magicly get better around here.

It's Peter Pan Land out there, but where's Captain Hook??  HELP!!  I'm surrounded by Tinkerbells!!