If only I knew where to complain... I seem to be between a rock and a hard place. I want to scream at someone due to the injustice and the inefficiencies in the system, yet am desperately in need of this job and cannot afford to offend and alienate myself.

If you read this blog, you will know that I was hired at the end of November as a sub in x district. You will also have read about some of my woes regarding Ontario's absolutely asinine requirements for teachers with respect to criminal records checks. When I say asinine, I don't mean that it's stupid that we have to have one performed. I just mean that if a regular criminal reference check isn't enough (though I should point out that it was in BC...) and we require a "vulnerable sector check" due to the fact that we are working with children THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE PERFORM ONE IN A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME.

The problem is that in order to have a vulnerable sector search performed, your employer must be registered with the police department before you yourself can have the check performed. Further, you MUST have this check performed by the police department in the jurisdiction in which you live. It was already mid-December by the time I was notified by the district that my regular criminal records check would not suffice (after they had originally asked for a regular check -- that I paid for... for nothing... but that is a beef from a prior post). They were informed, by me, that they were NOT registered with the TO Police AND that the TO Police told me that the registration process for them would take 6-8 weeks and that afterwards, my own check would take 6-8 weeks. I was furious! That anything should take 12-16 weeks is beyond inefficient.

On December 22, 2006, the TO Police sent the district the paperwork. At the beginning of January, I called the district for an update and was told they were in the process of filling out the registration forms and that they'd be sent by the end of the first week. At the beginning of February, I called for an update on the progress of the registration and was told they'd check on it and call me back. They never did. I called a week later, spoke to the "employee services" person assigned to me, she said she'd check on it and call me back. She never did. I called the TO Police a week later -- they were incredibly rude and told me to call the district (I took the opportunity to complain about the ridiculous-ness of a 12-16 week wait -- that's potentially 4 months!) and hung up seriously annoyed. I immediately called the school district, since they never called me back, and they told me to call the TO Police -- to which I simply exploded. I told them I had just talked to the Police and they'd told me to call the district, now the district was telling me to call the police. I questioned if anyone knew what the hell was going on??? My district rep promised to call and find out where things were at... I really thought I'd get a phone call back this time. A week passed. The month changed to March. No call.

Enter yesterday, March 2 (this may be posted later [March 5] because Blogger had frozen my account because they thought it was SPAM -- JERKS!)

I start with a call to the TO Police. I took many deep breaths and promised myself that I would not lose my cool. I actually talked to someone that was helpful. She could confirm to me that the district was NOT registered yet, that they had been sent paperwork on x date, and that as of March 2nd, they were missing paperwork from the district and thus the registration process was stalled. I hung up the phone and then freaked out. It took Neil a few minutes to calm me down before I grabbed the phone again and in an extremely even and forcibly polite tone, left a long message for my employee services rep at the district.

One hour later, I get a call back. My rep, clearly frustrated and irritated, doesn't really yell at me, yet I could tell she wasn't pleased to be calling me, tells me that they do so have the paperwork. She then gives me the name of the person the district is dealing with and tells me she had just called to try and figure out why I was given the information I was given and that their "person" wasn't in until next Monday. She then proceeds to "yell" that she is sorry for this situation, but that I AM NOT ALONE. There are several other people that are feeling screwed, just like me.

To be honest, I recognized the agitation of her tone and found myself trying to make her feel better. I told her I WASN'T MAD, JUST FRUSTRATED (clearly a lie).

So the updated status is ???? WHO KNOWS??? Though I have to say the thought of SEVERAL angry people calling to complain about this situation makes me feel MUCH BETTER and a touch sorry for her, the executive assistant to the director of employee services -- as she seems to be the person we've been asked to liaise with.