DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: This is my fourth year teaching and the first with our new principal. He is, no pun intended, very old school.

When we came in for our first staff meetings right before school started, he made it clear he expected his professional staff to dress like professionals. For example, jeans are okay, provided they’re neat and not torn. No graphic tees, sweats, hoodies, tank tops, or flip-flops are acceptable. On Fridays, we are being encouraged to wear the school polo with jeans or khakis, but otherwise, no more dress down days so long as students are in the building.

I grew up with teachers dressing casually, and many of my fellow teachers, of all ages, at my current school also feel like we’re being treated like children in not being trusted to wear what we feel comfortable in and how the students are used to us dressing.

Do you agree we, as professionals, should be treated as adults capable of knowing what works best when it comes to relating to our students? --- not for the dress code

DEAR not for the dress code: You may not like hearing this, but I support your principal’s policy of requiring his professional staff to present a professional appearance when on the job.

Taking care and pride in your appearance sends a message to your students that you are not their peer, but their teacher, the adult responsible for their wellbeing, safety, and education during the hours they’re in your classroom.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: My grandparents are two of the smartest and wisest people I know. But even they got scammed by a call that used AI to have my actual voice tell them I was being held in a Honduran jail and needed to be bailed out, that I couldn’t reach my parents, and they were my only hope for help.

It was a super smart scam, because I actually did take a week-long trip to Honduras as part of my archeology summer camp program, set up by my school, before meeting my parents for a week with them near where the camp was held.

My parents thought it was a great way to tack on a family vacation so they booked a resort in Copan Ruinas so we could all meet there and fly home together. During the week I was doing my camp, they took a couple of eco tours booked through the resort.

So what it all meant was that there were two or three days where neither my parents nor myself had cell service. So when the scammers called my grandparents, and they heard my voice, they bought into it and wired almost $2000 for my “bail.” My grandparents tried to get my parents and me both several times before sending the money, but we were unreachable, and came back into service to calls and texts from them, but it was too late.

I feel crappy about it, as do my parents, who offered to repay my grandparents, but they said it was their fault, their loss. They reported the scam to all the proper authorities, with a little help from my parents, and let the rest of the family and their friends know what happened, and to be on guard against what they experienced.

Please let your readers know about this scam. The more people who know about this, the better. --- COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE

DEAR COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE: Several years ago, an older friend of mine fell victim to a very similar scam. That time it was her grandson “imprisoned in Mexico.” I don’t now recall all the details of her particular experience, but it sounds like advances in technology make these phone scams so much more believable, and that’s both aggravating and frightening.

Thank you for sharing your grandparents’ story. Hopefully it’ll help make more people aware of a new twist on an old trick.

DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: The company where I work is owned by an older couple who are as conservative as you get. When their daughter came out years back, they just about threw her out of the family. But believe it or not, the father’s father blasted him about how you love your kids, no matter what.

Long story short, after being out of the picture, the daughter is back working for the family business, with the goal to take it over in the next few years.

Her spouse is undergoing gender reassignment, so she is especially sensitive to gender recognition issues. One thing she has been demanding of her parents is to update the restrooms to all be gender-neutral ones, including having both toilets and urinals in each of the two front office single-user bathrooms, and providing floor to ceiling stalls along with either additional toilets or urinals in the four multi-stall, currently two men’s and two women’s bathrooms in the warehouse area.

The owners say it is not as simple as tacking signs on the doors. They would need to do some plumbing and structural upgrades as well, which would be expensive at a time when business has been less than robust.

Most of us have steered clear of taking sides, but there is pressure to join either the new or old bathrooms camp. It’s a touchy issue here, and there have been some serious, heated arguments between coworkers over this issue.

As office manager, I’m caught in the middle, and trying to keep neutral. I have a lot invested in my career here, and don’t want to be out of a job if I choose the wrong side.

I completely believe everyone has a right to feel safe and comfortable about themselves and their environments, including the restrooms they use.

However, I see the bottom line, since I’m the one getting the renovation quotes, and I know that the company genuinely cannot afford to put out potentially thousands of dollars right now.

The cheapest way to go is signage, but that’s not acceptable to the boss’s daughter and her supporters.

For the sake of the company’s financial health, should I join the keep it simple with signage side? That would make the current owners, who are close to retirement, happy, but my future boss, their daughter angry. --- CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

DEAR CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE: Hard as it may be at times, I believe you’re right to stay neutral in this instance, but that doesn’t mean you have to do nothing.

Since you’re familiar with the company’s finances, perhaps you could pull together a few cost comparisons between converting all the restrooms, just changing the signs, and if possible, a compromise option or two. The renovations might, for instance, be spread over a couple of fiscal years, allowing for half of the restrooms to be updated now, and if that falls short of satisfying the needs of the staff, the next step would be to make the changes to the other half of them when the budget permits.

With a few realistic options on the table, what may prove a more productive conversation can be started between the various factions.