Our school bans students from wearing beanies, as beanies fit into the JHS Dress and Grooming Code which prohibits hats, head and face covering in the building. The school also bans students from having fountain drinks on carpeted classroom areas. Some JHS students don’t agree with either policy.
“It’s [wearing beanies] part of fashion,” said Shyann Edwards.
Many students have started wearing beanies as a fashion accessory. The woven hats can complement an outfit while adding unique style. Girls aren’t the only ones to think so. Plenty of boys have been incorporating beanies into their outfits as well. When asked his thoughts on whether beanies should be allowed in school Kiel West said, “If it goes with an outfit, and it’s cold outside, we should be able to wear them.”
Edwards and West, along with others in our school, see the beanies for their use in keeping students warm in the cold outside weather and in keeping with the fashion trend. They recognize that faculty members may view the beanies as a sign of trying to be in a gang, but they refute it by saying wearing a beanie doesn’t mean the wearer is in a gang. Additionally, if people frown upon beanies because they could hide items, the students point out that beanies are so form fitting it would be difficult to hide anything.
What most students don’t realize is that beanies weren’t banned just as a gang issue, if some school officials did consider them a gang issue. The school district’s reasoning for banning beanies is that a beanie is a hat, and in the JHS student policy handbook hats are prohibited. As some faculty members have told me, the beanie issue is a respect issue rather than a gang issue.
The faculty’s other argument against beanies is that the hat rule shouldn’t be bent, because if a rule is bent a little, then it can be bent so much it completely snaps in half. If beanies were allowed, then why not allow bandanas? Or hoods up on hoodies? Or why not all hats? By making one part of the rule questionable, then the whole rule can be questioned, and that’s why they say they have to enforce the entire rule without exception.
Don’t be quick to blame your teachers, though. Just because they are supposed to enforce the rule doesn’t mean they made it. This was a school board decision. Some teachers are actually sympathetic to the students and/or have a difficult time enforcing the rule.
A couple of them pointed out that beanies are hard to notice because they’re similar to a hair accessory. Unlike a brimmed hat, the teachers can see students’ eyes with a beanie and tell if students are paying attention. Because of this, the teachers sometimes forget to check for beanies.
But even though our school’s faculty can see the students’ side, a school rule is a school rule.
What about the drink rule though? It’s not an actual policy in the JHS student policy handbook, but it is still a rule being enforced upon the students.
“I think we should be able to have drinks because we might want to go on a drink run and fountain drinks are cheaper,” said Sierra Fowkes.
The issue of bringing fountain drinks inside the school has spiked since Bev’s opened up with exciting new soda combinations. Students love grabbing a drink between classes, but once they bring it in they must set it outside, leave it on a teacher’s desk, or throw it away since drinks without screw on lids aren’t allowed inside classrooms.
This frustrates some students, especially since students don’t have many coins to waste.
The custodians were frustrated though when students brought drinks into classrooms. Spilled drinks ruin and stain the carpet, and there’s no way to get it out. Carla, head custodian, said, “Sometimes it [a spilled drink] sits there for a while, and no one even realizes it’s there.” This sitting soda looks nasty and is even more difficult to scrub out of the carpets. The school recognized the custodians’ problem and consequently made the drink rule.
In all reality though, the drink issue has been blown into a bigger deal than it really is, and for the most part has been resolved. Each side can see the other’s view, and a compromise has been made.
“I can see how they would be concerned, but as long as they have a cap I think they’re okay,” said Forest Cox.
Many students, just like Cox, realize the ruinous effects drinks can have on the carpet at school and respect it. Likewise, the school has recognized that students want to, and do, buy fountain drinks, and has agreed to let them have drinks at school so long as the drinks are kept on the tile.
To wrap this up, please keep beanies outside the school and drinks outside the classroom.
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