I think it's a bit of both. We're also missing a lot of context as well. Did the student explain to the teacher why he was asking what the policy was or was he more vague about why he was asking. What was the tone of the email? Was it like the post where he states the project was "long and annoying" and pretty much said he's got better things to do. That seems rather insulting and egotistical to insinuate the teacher's work is not worth his time. There's a lot we don't really know here and we're only hearing it from one perspective. Ultimately though, the school has to follow the letter of the policy and so they did.