Swimming in Paper
 

Well, it's too rainy and lightningy here to go swimming in a pool, plus I was at work, so I decided to swim in paper this afternoon.

For a while now I've been putting old student work in my file cabinet. The way it's currently "organized" (i.e., barely at all), I'm out of room. There's huge stacks of stuff that I can now throw away, but I wish there was less to sort through.

I'm required to keep all of this stuff (for a year, I think). I suppose I could dump all of it. But if I did, I'm certain some student would show up demanding things that had already been taken to the dump and I'd somehow get in trouble.

I have enough of my own stuff that needs to be filed and stored--I wish I didn't have to store so much of other people's stuff.

So, I'm entering my plea to students everywhere: We know you probably don't want this stuff either. But coming back to get it makes it look as if maybe you do care, and that's a good thing for everyone (even if you put it in the trash just outside the building door).

And if anyone wants to come over and do my at-home filing, I've got plenty of that, too . . .

Sure. For the small fee of two (2) plane tickets from any major Southern California Airport to your vicinity, lodging for two (2) adults for the duration of three (3) weeks, and Walt Disney World Resort entrance media to allow two (2) adults access to all Walt Disney Company owned and operated theme parks at the resort for the duration.

How about transportation for two (2) from MCO to my apartment, lovely couch and aero-bed accomodations for two (2) in my living room, and I'll give you the phone number of a cast member whom you can beg to sign you in some day?

You must not be allergic to dust.

Or maybe you'd just rather go to Paris?

Hell, you need to sign up with Expedia - that's a pretty good deal.

Random person in Missouri:
"Hey, look here honey...we can stay in this person's house and sleep on their Aerobed for FREE! Yeah, we'd have to do some minor house cleaning and organizing, but still, you can't beat that....don't worry, we'll get the kids to do the filing.....hey Tiger, Princess! We're going to DisneyWorld!"

Heh. Yeah. ;)

Alright, I'll cut you a deal. We go to Paris, you do the filing, and we'll call it even.

Have I mentioned that I love setting up filing systems? (Why yes, I did focus on cataloging in library school. How did you guess?) And I have a WDW AP, so I don't someone to sign me in...

So....Why do you need to keep this stuff? Shouldn't this be returned to the student, or held by the school itself? Are these duplicate records for your benefit? I think you may just need to invest in a larger shredder.

Oh. I feel your pain. I have to 'file' all of our schtuff.

I spent a whole day shredding last week and had the other papers organized. Until the cat came along. I gave up. Now I have to go through it all again.

But, what to keep? I have insurance papers, but, I've upgraded. Should I keep them to refer to when I see a price hike and say 'Wait, what's up?'

The hubster says I need to keep everything. " :confused: " I shred shred shred and the damn thing gets clogged on me sooo often because I have so much to shred.

How long are we supposed to keep things?

And, I have three kids with school papers. I like to keep examples of their work as well as their report cards, etc.

And, the cat loves to help me. :rolleyes:

I am okay with it because he is the only one who does.

I'd come out to help you but you might be stuck with me forever. :D

Deal. But I might put off the filing for a while longer. Surely a bit more dust can't make the job any worse than it currently is.
Someone somewhere decided that we can't just throw it away.

Yes, it should be returned to the student, but they way the academic calendar is here, stuff ends up coming in during the last few days, and by the time I can grade it all, classes are over and students have disappeared.

No, they're not duplicates for my benefit. They're the originals. But the students don't want 'em--it's on their computers. I'd love to trash 'em all, but occasionally someone comes back wanting their stuff. One came in today (probably 2-3 per semester do that).

Strangely, my department does not have any shredder. There's not even a recycle bin (ok, there are recycle bins, but they're just blue trash cans--nothing gets recycled). I guess I'll tear the now-trashable stuff in half and throw the left half away one week and the right half the next or something. *shrug*

You must change this policy

Tell your students you will destroy any uncalimed papers - if they will be out of town, let them give you a stamped self-addressed envelope if they want their "orioginals" back.

If they have a copy on their computers, yours is a duplicate - though I suspoect your copy might be marked up and graded making it a unique original

And if you didn't have it? Sad perhaps for the the student seeking it, but maybe they'll be more responsible next time around. Honestly, I can't envision march harm to the student for your failure to provide this storage and retrieval service.

With privacy laws coming into effect, I'm surprised - you are far more at risk from not shredding personal information, that not providing requested records back to the students.

I'd wash my hands of the mess