Student "edition" found at {thoughts dot com slash typed no space out no space loud slash blog}.

Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

The first part of the long disappearance from the blogging world was a session I had to attend off campus.

It was in the Commission on Higher Education building in the University of the Philippines, from 1pm to 4pm last Friday.

They oriented us on the Random Drug Testing to be given to each tertiary institution in the region.

It is really random in that they will only inform us the day before about when they will be showing up.

They are also asking for a master list of all students enrolled to be numbered from one onwards, and they are asking either for a computer with spreadsheet software or a scientific calculator to assist in their randomization.

The selection committee, erroneously named because they do not select the students to be tested, is composed of an employee of the school (usually one of the people who attended the orientation), a parent and a student.

I am not sure if I want to post more details about what must be done here because even if none of our own students ever read this, if even one student from any school in the country does, they will get ideas (possibly wrong ones) about what they could do if they do not want to be tested.

There have to be notifications sent out to the parents, all of them. It is a standard letter, but we can give a cover letter to the parents just to anticipate their questions, such as suspecting that they are receiving the notice because the school thinks their child might be a drug user, when in fact it is given to all parents.

A question I did ask is if we also have to do the same for the foreign population, and the answer is yes, when they were enrolled, part of their requirements is allowing themselves to be subjected to the rules of CHED, of which this testing is included, even if they are not citizens of this country.

We did find out about another campus of the district that conducts mandatory testing of ALL of their students throughout the term.

That was probably included in their requirements to sign before being allowed to enroll for the term, and we can do the same.

@@ Right now I have a laboratory class, but I am also acting as messenger between the student council and dean who are talking about a specific gift that they want to buy for next week that should not be redundant.

Since the gift of the SC is the same as that of another office, they are being asked to change it maybe to a rosary from an orphanage.

They insist they were first, but it was the secretary’s fault for not telling the dean on that Friday I was not here.

Now the students are asking if it could be food instead. They really have no sense of obedience to suggestions.

Fortunately for them, the dean will allow it, as long as it is not a specific type of cake that another office has reserved.

Session 2871 actually did not feel like writing yet after all those days of getting used to it, but it has to be done. Class dismissed.