You are beneath me. Please do NOT speak.

Today my coteacher sat me down and explained to me that our new Vice Principal does not want teachers of different levels socializing with each other during school hours. This includes all of the staff: "real" teachers vs contract teachers vs after-school teachers vs special education teachers vs cafeteria and maintenance staff. School hours include free time, lunch hour and teacher breaks.
He roams the school building during the day to catch someone doing something he considers "wrong" and then will punish/penalize them with intense scrutiny/demerits.

For the life of me, I cannot understand WHY WHY WHY?

All of the Korean teachers are stressed.
Now I can no longer spend my 10:30 break with the very nice maintenance lady eating fruit and listening to her have a full conversation with me in Hangul.
I also can no longer speak (during school hours) with my friend Julie, who is also sweet and who speaks English very well. Those simple moments alleviated the feelings of isolation and loneliness that I feel during the school day.

I do not believe this is due entirely to culture. I think he may have a difficult, nit-picking personality and gets to happily wield his power at his job to our detriment.