Chapter 4: Anytime

London-Middlesex Board of Education Building, London, Ontario

9:05am, Saturday, October 6, 1979

“Bertha McGregory! Long time, no see!” Mr. Williamson said as the new vice-principal of Timmins High School walked into the conference at the L-M Board of Education Building on Hyde Park Road. “We missed you at our last planning session in August.”

“Good to see you, TR,” Paul’s and Cathy’s mother said to Medway’s vice-principal and now NIS administrator colleague. “I had a tough call to make at that time. Do I come to Toronto to meet about this new program or spend the week in Montreal with my daughter, and hang out with the members of April Wine?”

“I would have chosen Montreal and April Wine, too,” Tom Williamson stated as he pulled back a chair at the conference talk for his former students’ mother. “Did your young’uns come with you? I bet they would love to see everyone.”

“Yes, Paul and Cathy are taking a nap at the hotel, now. They’re not used to getting up at three-am ... to fly from Timmins to London.”

“When you heading back? Tom asked.

“Our plane leaves at eleven-oh-five, tomorrow morning.”

“Too bad you can’t hang around ‘till Sunday night or better yet, Monday sometime,” Tom stated with a touch of surprise in his voice.

“Why’s that?” Bertha asked.

“Mike and the Time Bandettes are playing an unprecedented second weekend concert at The Aeolian Hall concert venue at, uh ... three-pm on Sunday,” Tom replied with a smile. He then added, “I bet Paul and Cathy would love to see them play ... those kids are really turning the London music scene on its ear, I’ve been told.”

“I knew about them playing on Friday at The Aeolian, but we haven’t heard a thing about this Sunday concert. When did that come about?” Bertha asked as she opened up her three-ring binder with the ‘Naked-In-School’ (NIS) program details and rules.

“Mr. Labatt told me over the phone last Wednesday that the kids’ band sold out the first show and the demand for tickets led the Aeolian people to set up this second show. William said that this has never happened before at that long running venue.

“Holy cow! Paul and Cathy have told me how well the Bandettes were doing, but I thought they might have been pulling my leg; you know, hoping to convince us to come back to London. I guess when this final planning meeting is over, I’ll be checking on changing our flight back to Timmins.”

“I heard from Mike that your kiddos are playing in a pretty good country-rock band? How are the twins doing up in the real Great-White-North?” Tom asked and then took a drink from his Tim Horton’s XL coffee cup.

“They miss their friends here as expected, but when they got together with a beautiful and talented musician, Gina Twain and a keyboardist, Clarence ‘Chuck’ Edwards ... that kind of put them in with the popular crowd at school. Cathy’s doing real well in school, as usual. And Paul, well ... he’s just Paul. He does just enough to get by in his classes, other than art and music, which infuriates me to no end.”

“Knowing your boy like I do, he’ll probably end up making more money than either of us or his sharper sister,” Mr. Williamson chuckled.

“Don’t you know it, Tom,” Bertha smiled as she reached for a couple of the Tim-Bits on a plate in the center of the table.

“Have you heard the new aspect of the program, which Deputy Minister of Education, Dr. Harry Fischer would like to implement as an advertisement for the NIS program?” Tom asked as he too opened up his binder containing the NIS program details.

“No. An advertising aspect ... this ought to be good,” Ms. McGregory said with a pen in hand.

“Oh, it’s good and I think you’ll possibly like it from a financial perspective, too ... if your kids’ band is as good as Mike, Lynette and Sammy have said that it is?”

“Let me guess, Premiere Davis and Dr. Stevenson are going to spend our tax dollars to promote this program with a naked...” Bertha said.

“A Naked-In-School concert with the best high school student bands, who have either gone through the program or wish to compete for the chance to play in this naked concert.”

“So, what do the students who perform at this concert receive, except for being naked in front of a larger than normal crowd?”

“The word I heard is that the winning band members will earn a full ride to any Ontario university or Community College for their whole post-secondary degree. The second place band members will get a half-ride scholarship. Also, Mr. Labatt and his company are supposedly going to cover either the promotional advertising costs for this concert or the actual costs of putting this concert together, whichever is lower.”

“I’m guessing that you’re going to turning the screws up on Mike and the Time Bandettes to make a run at this concert, aren’t you?” Bertha chortled after washing a glazed-chocolate Tim-Bit down with a swig of hot coffee.

“You bet, and I’m sure you know how to twist a certain set of twins and their new band’s arms, too,” Tom replied as he reached over and gave Bertha’s left forearm a slight ‘Indian-burn’ twist over her silky white blouse’s sleeve.

“Full or half scholarships are ... definitely worth some arm-twisting. Changing topics a little, have you selected who are going to be the lucky first group of eight or ten NIS students in Cowboy-ville?” Bertha asked with a laugh.

“I have six of the first eight, selected, and I’m waiting to hear from our school counselor’s opinion on a couple your typical ‘wall-flower’ students before I finalize our initial eight. How are you doing with your initial eight selections?”

“The biggest issue for me is; do I select either Paul or Cathy ... or possibly both of them for that first week? I won’t hear the end of it at home if it’s just one, and then I’d hear it from my students if my own kid or kids aren’t a part the first week. What are your thoughts on that?”

“If it were me with twins like yours ... I’d have them both do it right away. Not as partners obviously, but by doing it like that, that ends the favoritism argument from your kids, as well as from other students and possibility a parent or two. It also doesn’t hurt that they’re both good looking kids. Is their band playing at a Halloween type dance that first week?”

“Yes, their new band, the Longshot is performing at our school on the Friday after Halloween. So, if I have Paul and Cathy as initial participants in the program, do you think I should include Gina Twain and her step-brother, Clarence ... the other two members of Longshot in that first week, too?”

“Don’t see why not. Can you pair Paul with this Gina, girl, and Cathy with Clarence?” Tom asked.

“I actually thought about doing that,” Bertha replied with a grin on her face. “I think Paul has the hots for Gina, so that might be a fun pairing. However, Cathy and Clarence ... Chuck, they don’t agree on anything except when it comes to music. Cathy regularly comes home fuming about Gina’s ‘dumb-ass’ step-brother and his childish ways.”

“That sounds like an equally fun pairing, just in a different way. This program isn’t designed as a match-making system, but it may happen...

“It may not, too!” Bertha chuckled.

“Good morning, principals, vice-principals and other Ministry personal of our Naked-In-School programming committee,” Dr. Betty Stevenson, the newly appointed Minister of the Ministry of Education (MOE) for Ontario stated from the head of the large conference table. “I hope you are doing well this morning and that your journeys here to London went smoothly. My plane from Toronto Pearson (Toronto’s International Airport) was delayed two hours last night, and then we had some wicked turbulence as we approached London. So, hopefully nobody can top that as a crappy travel story.”

The Minister of Education then took a moment to flip through her binder and smiled at the committee members before she continued, “I heard a few of you talking about a possible NIS student concert as I was greeting a few of you this morning. I’d like you to know that we can eliminate that ‘possible’ term from my statement. I just got word from our finance sub-committee that the money for the band challenge and concert, the scholarships and all advertisements for this concert has all been secured, either via private companies or from our MOE funds. Ms. Sonya is now passing out the details of the financial and operational aspects of that NIS Concert ... Thank you, Sonya.”

After her administrative assistant passed out those reports, Dr. Stephenson said, “I’ll now turn this meeting over to Mr. Tom Williamson, the chair of the Rules and Procedures sub-committee, and he’ll share the final rules and procedures for this wonderful new program for our students. Tom.”

“Thank you, Dr. Stevenson. Just so you know, I had to stop and fill my new Honda Civic this morning, so I might be able to top your travel adventure to our building ... but I’ll let you decide,” Mr. Williamson deadpanned as he moved to the podium.

“Good morning, everybody. It’s good to see you, again on this wonderful fall morning. If you’ll turn to page four in your binder, we’ll go over the key rules and regulations that our sub-committee has finalized for this NIS program. Most of you already know all of these, but with our program’s start date only a few weeks away, I think it may be best to reiterate a few of the key R&Rs.”

After Mr. Williamson put on his reading glasses, he continued, “The first and by far, the foremost rule is: each NIS participant MUST be at least fifteen-years-old to participate in any official program activities. The law that our legislation passed made this perfectly clear. We, school administrators and MOE officials can be held legally accountable if a student is made to, or felt compelled to participate, while being fourteen or younger in any official NIS student activities. I doubt any of us will have many thirteen-year-olds in our high schools, but with a few sharp students skipping a grade in elementary school, we need to absolutely mind our ‘Ps & Qs’ on this ‘Prime-Directive‘, if I can borrow that term from Star Trek. Any questions?”

As would be expected on something this cut and dry, there were no questions or comments on this NIS age limitation.

“Okay, I’m going to go through the other key R&Rs,” Mr. Williamson said after a moment’s silence. “Feel free to stop me if you have a question or comment on them. The NIS activities for students in the program will be limited at the start of their week, and then become progressively more ... adventurous and challenging as their week moves along.” Without any initial comments, Mr. Williamson then proceeded.

“So, on the Monday of each week, the NIS students are simply to be naked during the school day. There are to be no ‘requests’ for naked activities like posing or physical movements. This is basically a ‘No Request and No Touch’ orientation day for our students. The goal is to have our students to get through this first day without any major physical aspect.”

“What about if a student wants ‘relief’ as described on page eight?” Ms. Davis, the vice-principal at Toronto’s Eastern Commerce Secondary asked. “Is touching allowed by another person or does relief only mean masturbation on Mondays?”

“Another good question, Angela,” Mr. Williamson replied, “I take the no touching rule to mean ‘unwanted’ touching as in hallways or during actual class time like when seated at their desk. I think if a student asks for physical contact from another student during their relief periods, that it would be permissible. What does our legal counsel have to say on this?”

“With nothing like this to work from, I think that if this committee agrees with your view, Tom, and puts it down in the official rules; that it will be legally sound. I hate being ‘wishy-washy’ there, but the legislation didn’t lay out the most tightly written rules’ package for you or us,” Mr. Barry Windelson replied to Mr. Williamson’s legal question. This gentleman was the MOE’s legal advisor for any NIS program related matters.

After a brief discussion, Monday’s rules were finalized by the committee to allow for ‘asked touching’ during relief activities only. “On Tuesday, non-participant students can request posing and other physical movements of the NIS students. The ‘no-touch during school’ and the ‘asking for touch during relief’ rules would still be there, similar to our just agreed to Monday rules. Any comments, questions or discussion?” Mr. Williamson said. Not hearing any, he confidently added, “Good, good.”

“On Wednesday, the posing and movement requests are still allowed, and the non-participant students can now do ‘simple-touching’ on the NIS student’s body after they politely request to do so. This simple touching refers to hand or finger contact only with no digital penetration of a female’s vagina or anyone’s rectum.”

“I have a question, Tom,” Bertha stated in a lull in his explanation. “If a person has asked politely and starts to run his or her finger along a girl’s labial lips or vagina, and that finger slips, either accidentally or possibly on purpose, what can the NIS student do and what could happen to the non-participant?”

“Ah, yes ... as I was going over this rule with my wife the other day, she basically asked me the same thing. A few things are involved in my opinion, here. For the female NIS student, I believe that she should report that penetrating action to a teacher or principal, and get any others who witnessed that event to verify what happened and the context of how it happened. If a minor penetration of, like, up to one knuckle happens, the non-participant student will have a record of that ‘non-allowed’ activity on their record. Then, if a that person exhibits a series of similar accidents, then the more formal consequences as laid out in your binder would come into play. Does that make sense, Bertha, everyone?”

“Yes, Tom. Thanks.”

“If the ‘penetrating slip’ is deeper than one knuckle, is it safe to believe that that WAS NOT an accident?” Ms. Davis asked.

“I would say it wasn’t an accident if it happened to one of my students,” Mr. Williamson replied.

“Same here, Ms. Davis,” Bertha added as she tapped the table with her Paper-Mate pen.

“There should not be any accidental slips into a NIS student’s rectum, correct, Tom?” Dr. Stevenson asked from her seat beside the podium.

“No, Ma’am. If more than a fingertip or possibly fingernail enters a NIS student’s rectum, that is definitely not an accident, in my opinion.”

“It wouldn’t be an accident according to current sexual assault laws, either,” Mr. Windelson stated his legal perspective on anal penetration laws.

“Thanks, Barry,” Mr. Williamson replied with a smile. “Touching of male students does not create near as much of an ‘is it an accidental touch’ grey area as with a girl’s genitals.” Mr. Williamson used his fingers to “quote” the accidental touch part of his statement. He continued with, “However, boys’ genitals are always exposed and can be susceptible to distressful or painful touches or situations. In my view, there are no ‘accidental’ touches to a male’s genitals that cause undue distress to extreme pain. If a touch is too hard or rough, and the male student says to stop or lighten the touch it MUST be done, immediately. Anything that is painful from the start, like a forceful blow is an immediate rule violation, in my view.”

“Don’t think anyone is going to disagree with that, Tom,” Dr. Stevenson stated.

“Thursday’s rules are exactly the same as Wednesday’s for non-participant requests and touching. The key difference on Thursdays is the inclusion of our curricular or classroom studies involving the NIS students. As you know, other committees have developed a series of classroom lesson plans to examine our students’ sexual development and understanding of a person’s body. There are also co-curricular lessons in math and science, which will take advantage of the NIS students’ bodies for things like measurements, volumes, rate of basic body responses. You have copies of these lessons in Appendix B, in your binder.”

“Are NIS participants required to take part in sexually arousing or teacher-lead penetrations? If this was discussed at the August session, I didn’t read anything about it in the minutes or our new information packets,” Bertha McGregory asked as she flipped through some of the pages in her binder.

“We are not going to require anyone to perform or undergo any penetration type activities. There will be some strong incentives, either grade enhancements in that class or a similar type class to encourage participation,” Mr. Williamson replied to Bertha’s question. “For example, if a student agrees to some arousing stimulation in a biology class and they already have an ‘A’ grade in that class, they may request the NIS academic enhancement for their participation be transferred to chemistry or physics. An English NIS enhancement could transfer to another language or writing course like History, and vice-a-versa.”

“If the NIS students in a class don’t wish to participate in an arousing or penetration type class lesson, the classroom teacher will have other program focused lessons involving their NIS students. The students will have to participate in things like measurements of external body parts, posing or physical movements ... things can be requested outside of class, but with a classroom educational objective,” Dr. Stevenson stated to reassure the school administrators in the room that the Thursday or Friday NIS lessons will go on with either NIS student challenges or regular NIS student activities.

“For Friday, the wrap-up day for our NIS students,” Mr. Williamson stated after Dr. Stevenson nodded to him, “both our male and female participants can agree or decline classroom activities as on Thursday. Also, all participants can give their permission to more sexually explicit activities like digital penetration. Also, if the NIS students wish to bring their own personal items, such as sex-toys to school on Friday, they can use them during a classroom activity. They may also use their sex-toys outside of class as long as their NIS partner or a teacher is present. This is to ensure safety should that sexually aroused person require additional help.”

“So, if someone like my daughter brings her own vibrator or dildo to school on the Friday, she can use it in a classroom activity if a lesson requires sexual arousal. If it is outside the classroom, like in the hallway or cafeteria, she or a student of her choosing can use her sex-toy on her...”

“As long as that person’s NIS partner or a teacher, school worker is physically in the area to offer support and physical help, if needed. We don’t want an isolated girl, for example having a major orgasm with someone, and then not be fully cognizant to make additional decisions about any follow-up sexual activities,” Mr. Williamson clarified that safety oriented rule involving high arousal activities.

“So are there any questions, comments on the basic structure of our NIS week’s schedule?” Mr. Williamson asked as he looked at the eighteen school administrators sitting around the conference table.

“Alright, then ... I’m going to quickly summarize the other key R&Rs of this new program. Again, give a holler if something here needs clarification, or strikes a nerve,” Mr. Williamson said with smile. “We already know that the NIS students’ schedules for their week may be altered to have them with their partners as much as possible. If a program student misses assignments or tests, they will be given ample time to get the missed material for tests or to complete the assignments. These changes should be minimal with their major classes. Changes for art, physical education/health and biology classes are not permitted as the NIS students are needed in those classes for lessons whenever they are enrolled in them.”

After checking for questions or comments, Mr. Williamson continued. “NIS students will use the opposite gender’s change rooms. Showers are mandatory for all NIS students after their physical education classes. The daily no touching rules still apply in the change room and showers. The same applies to genital penetration and abusive touching rules. Non-participants MUST change into appropriate physical education attire with the opposite gender NIS student in the change rooms. Showers are not required, but should be encouraged for non-participants.”

“During physical education classes and during school athletic competitions, NIS students will be allowed to wear appropriate protective and supportive clothing and school uniforms. Appropriate clothing in PE would be a jock for males during any type of running, or high activity movements or sports. Certain dance activities would need a jock, while some dances like the waltz or foxtrot can be done sans jock-strap. That should be left up to the PE teacher and the NIS student.” Again, Medway’s VP checked for comments or questions on this issue.

“For our female NIS students, appropriate clothing may include the use of ‘open-cup bras’ to support their breast tissue in similar type activities as a boy’s jock would be required. If the PE teacher and NIS female student believe there is a real need to wear panties; that can be decided upon with that female student. Please talk with your PE teachers about this as our intent is not to cause any undue discomfort during our students’ physical activities.”

“This may not be a PE only type question, but uh, what if a NIS female is on or starts her menstrual cycle during her selected week in the program? I may have missed how we are going to deal with this at an earlier meeting, as I’ve only been to the August session,” Ms. Bradbury, the vice-principal at Sarnia Northern asked.

“Great question, Danica,” Mr. Williamson replied and took a deep breath before he stated, “There was a hot debate over this issue, but we decided a female’s menstrual cycle is not a reason for exclusion from their selected week. During PE, a menstruating girl will be allowed to wear a pair of panties she brings from home as physical activity can impact a girl’s blood flow and sanitary pad usage. However, this committee agreed that a girl’s monthly cycle is a key part of their development and shouldn’t be treated as a taboo.”

“If I was here during that discussion, Tom, I probably would have agreed with the committee’s decision. I was just making sure I knew about this because I’m sure there will be a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth over this private female bodily function,” Ms. Bradbury calmly stated.

“If I may, Tom, our main reason for this was that most teenaged boys do not have control of their penis’s erections and seminal fluid leakage, a very private and involuntary body function for guys. So, if a female happens to experience her very private menstruation time, why should they be extended extra privileges? Our school nurses will have a well-stocked supply of sanity products should a girl’s menstrual cycle arrives unexpectedly or she needs more tampons or pads then they have with them,” Dr. Joanna Cenica, the principal at Toronto Runnemede High School imparted for the committee.

“Thank you for sure that superb rationale, Joanna,” Mr. W warmly stated. He continued with his rules explanation, “As for using the restrooms, we have decided to allow the NIS students to use their own gender’s restroom during their week in the program. Before, during or after their PE classes, both male and female NIS students can use the opposite gender’s restroom facilities connected to the appropriate change or locker room.”

“These next few should not be as stressful to our NIS students as the ones we have just discussed,” Mr. Williamson said with a smile on his face. “The NIS students’ pubic hair may need to be trimmed to allow other students a better viewing of their anatomy. Therefore, each school’s nurse will have clippers with ‘half-inch’ length hair guards to trim their pubes if a ... reduction is need. If in your opinion, a NIS student needs a trim, the student can use the clippers themselves or allow the nurse to do that task for them. I don’t believe our job is to be the pubic hair police, so don’t think you have to measure or trim everyone’s hair if it is, like three-quarters of an inch. I have faith you’ll recognize whether a NIS student, whether male or female needs a little ‘personal’ grooming for this program’s purposes.”

“This trimming only deals with the length and ‘bushiness’, correct, Tom? We aren’t concerned with the overall coverage, are we?” Dr. Stevenson asked.

“No, but if a student is concerned about the amount of their pubic hair,” Mr. Williamson replied, “they can ask to use the school’s clippers to do a little personal grooming. Also, we have decided that we are not in the shaving business for safety reasons. So, if a program student wishes to truly clean up around their genitalia, then that is something they must do at home.”

“The last key safety factor for our NIS students is that we are providing each participant with a ‘special-pitched’ whistle. These safety whistles,” Mr. W then paused and pulled a whistle from his inner suit jacket’s pocket and gave it a blow, “have a very distinctive sound, and they will automatically be picked up via your school’s new PA sensor systems. We will have to be very informative and clear with our NIS students that these whistles are not toys, but valuable safety devices. If a program student uses their whistle for a non-emergency situation, they will be given one warning. After being issued that warning for inappropriate use of their whistle, they will be required to complete a second week in the NIS program. This additional week will require them to experience of Thursday or Friday activities every day of this second week.”

“Lastly, Bertha sent our committee a suggestion when she couldn’t make our August meeting, and we feel it is worthwhile addressing as a whole. After I polled our R&R committee, we decided we are going to allow ‘Non-Program Volunteers’ to join with their NIS student classmates in going without clothes during the school day. Each naked volunteer student will be given a necklace to wear letting everyone at school know they are not required to do any NIS student activities or requests. Once the naked volunteer has made it clear that requests or touchings are not acceptable, they are ‘protected’ under the full NIS rules.”

“During class time, these volunteer students will be required to follow the NIS student requirements for class participation. These volunteers can decline arousing or penetrative activities but not the lower level activities even if no other NIS students are in a classroom with them. They will know ahead of time, that if they are naked, we will use them to serve classroom educational objectives. Lastly, volunteers will be allowed to take ‘relief’ in class, but only if there is another NIS student who has requested it at the start of the class.”

“What if a student, who is thirteen or fourteen-years-old wants to be a ‘naked-volunteer’?” Ms. Davis asked.

“Yes, I can see a few of our younger students possibly wanting to volunteer,” Bertha added.

“Same at my school,” Mr. Williamson said with a shake of his head.

“If a fourteen-year-old student volunteers to go naked at your school, that ends our culpability from a legal standpoint,” Mr. Windelson stated from the end of the table. “Because school or government officials did not compel or require the fourteen-year-old student to go naked, that puts us outside that age limitation in the eyes of the law. However, school personal cannot ask these younger aged students to do any of the curricular lessons or school sponsored activities. That could be construed as compelling in the eyes of the courts, which could lead to major legal troubles.”

Mr. Windelson gave the school administrators and government officials a moment to process that legal opinion. When no one asked or commented on it, the lawyer then added, “Under no circumstances can we allow any thirteen-year-old or younger student to be naked. If one of these young students goes naked without a school official’s knowledge, we must end that student’s naked participation as soon as it becomes noticed.”

“Does anyone have any questions or comments on what Mr. Windelson just said about the age driven aspects of our NIS program?” Mr. Williamson asked as he nodded to the committee’s legal counsel at the end of the conference table. With no comments or questions, Mr. Williamson turned to Dr. Stephenson and indicated that the floor was now hers.

“Goodness. Thanks, Tom ... you did a great job explaining and addressing our concerns regarding the rules and regulations of our Naked-In-School program. Thanks, too, Barry for your legal expertise,” Dr. Stevenson said as she moved back to the podium.

“I’m not sure that we need further discussion of the consequences for violations of these R&R for NIS participants and non-participants. We have gone over them several times and Mr. Windelson has vetted those violations with respect to legal remedies and/or criminal charges for serious physical and/or sexual assaults. With that said, how about we take a thirty-minute break before we reconvene to go over a few of the curricular issues within our new program.”