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After much debate over the past several months, the North Sanpete School District has decided to implement a new hat policy and focus more on the dress code.
“On my first day at this school last year, we were already having some problems with students failing to follow the hat policy,” said NS Principal Christine Straatman. “However, I ended up having some good conversations with those same kids about their own thoughts on why students should be able to wear hats and it got me thinking about our hat policy.”
Over and over again, students and teachers kept bringing up the idea of changing the hat policy to Straatman.
However, Straatman didn’t have the power to change the policy by herself.
“The hat policy and dress code are district policies, not school policies,” Straatman said. “I told students it’s not something I can change on the school level. It’s quite the process to make a change like that.”
The first step was the NS faculty had to vote on where they stood on the matter. The majority of the teachers voted that they were for the change of allowing students to wear hats.
Teachers were then given the opportunity to present their side of the argument, and debate with one another in a second faculty meeting. Another survey showed that the majority of teachers were still for changing the hat policy.
Science teacher Bryan Holder was one of the teachers who fought hard to put the hat policy into effect.
“Hats haven’t ever been an issue in my class,” Holder said. “If you come into my classroom wearing a hat, we can just get right to work, whereas before I’ve been in classrooms where 10-15 minutes of class time can be wasted because a student was fighting with the teacher to keep their hat on. It becomes a power struggle, and I’d rather have a kid in my class with a hat on than not choosing to show up because they’re sick of getting picked on because of their style choice.”
While the majority of teachers ultimately agree with Holder, FACS teacher Auralee Brooks has a different perspective of why students shouldn’t be wearing hats.
“I like to wear hats, but there is a time and a place for them,” Brooks said. “I believe that hats should never be worn inside of buildings because it’s disrespectful. Wearing hats to school catalyzes the whole education experience. Instead, we should do things to elevate our learning environment.”
Despite some opposition from Brooks and other teachers, the proposition was presented and approved by the community council and school board. From about start to finish, the whole process took about 6 months to be finally put into place.
Therefore, at the start of the new school year, NSSD students at the high school level are allowed to wear ball caps, beanies, and other small non-distracting hats.
“I’m really excited about the change with hats,” said senior Shayley Fausett. “Now I can wear bucket hats, bandanas, and beanies as part of my outfits. I love that students have another way to express themselves through fashion.”
Many students feel similar to Fausett about the change. In fact, according to a recent survey sent out to the students of NS, 92.5 percent said that they are in favor of the new hat policy.
On the contrary, while most of the student body is happy about wearing hats, some students from NS are not happy with the dress code and wish it could change as the hat policy did.
“I find the dress code to be sexist,” said sophomore Seth Howarth. “I see more girls getting dress coded, and it’s unfair. Like, it’s hard for girls to go shopping and find clothes that follow the dress code. Like my sister, for ex-ample, it was hard for her to go school shopping because all there are crop tops or ripped jeans because that’s what the fashion is right now.”
Howarth isn’t the only student who feels like the dress code is biased. In the same survey, 55 percent of students also reported that the dress code is unfair.
“If it was up to me, I would abolish the dress code,” Fausett said, “or even making it much more relaxed would make it more fair. I should be able to wear the same clothes as my friends without feeling embarrassed or degraded by getting dress coded.”
Just as there are conflicts and conversations about the hat policy, there are conversations to be had about the dress code. Teachers hope that their conversations and willingness to go through the system to change the hat policy will influence students to stand for what they think is right but do so in the proper way.
“We want to give you the world,” Holder said. “If you want to change the world, then change it, but do it right. We hope that by going through the process we did with changing the hat policy we have shown students how to properly make a change. How to go through the system and make a difference instead of just complaining. If you think it is unfair or you wish for it to change, then go change it. You guys can have that power, but only if you take it.”
