By Heather Graves
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – After nearly three hours of debate the Green Bay school board adopted a new district-wide dress code policy at its meeting Monday, Oct. 21.
Board members were in agreement on the changes to the policy, with the exception of hats and hooded sweatshirts.
At the Oct. 7 meeting, board members directed district staff to solicit feedback from school staff on the topic with a district-wide survey.
An overwhelming majority stated they were against a policy change to allow hats and hoods in the classroom – characterizing them as a distraction and a safety concern.
“Hats pulled down low, can’t make any eye contact with students, can’t get any understanding of whether or not they are with me in a lesson,” said West High School teacher Daniel Gage at the meeting.
Franklin Middle School student Audra Gabrielson, who spoke to the board about the dress code policy earlier this year, told board members for some students wearing a hat or a hood makes them feel more safe and comfortable.
“It’s a self-security thing, it’s not like they are trying to just be defiant – they feel safer and more comfortable wearing hats or hoodies in school,” Gabrielson said. “Sometimes I like to wear my hood on hoodies because I sometimes feel a lot of anxiety and it feels more comforting, and it helps me focus more on the task at hand.”
Board members weren’t comfortable with a hard stance decision one way or the other on a district-wide rule in regards to hoods and hats.
With the feedback from students and teachers so widely different, the board spent a significant amount of time trying to hash out a successful compromise.
“From a policy standpoint, I’d like to see allowing building leadership to make that decision per building and have those conversations with their staff,” said board member Kristina Shelton.
For now, the approved new policy eliminates what the school board saw as gender-biased restrictions in regards to shorts and/or skirt lengths and spaghetti straps shirts, and allows hats in hoods in school at the discretion of each school administrator.
The discussion doesn’t end there.
“I am concerned that culturally, we’re asking our students to check too much at the door by prohibiting hats and hoodies,” said Board President Brenda Warren. “I also can see from the survey that our schools are not ready for us to allow hats and hoods. I’d like to see us get there. We already have a couple of schools that are working on that. But we aren’t there yet.”
Warren said it’s the expectation of the school board the district will work toward having teachers and staff comfortable with having hats and hoods in schools by the end of June.
“We have work to do and conversations need to be had together,” Shelton said.
This is the first change the district has made to the dress code policy in 11 years.