Utah school forces student to change out of kilt

[sathor]

I actually had to go head-to-head with our admin last year when they wanted to suspend a student who came to school barefoot.

I remember such a hippie in college one year. The only logical argument I could come up with was a religious belief one, beyond that, I would think the health codes would be of issue. I'm curious how your incident played out.

[Roderick]

I remember such a hippie in college one year. The only logical argument I could come up with was a religious belief one, beyond that, I would think the health codes would be of issue. I'm curious how your incident played out.

The young lady in question is an artist and a musician, and her style of dress and general political attitude are those that might have earned her the label "hippie" from more than a few folks. She had a pair of sandals that she would bring with her, and if she needed to use the washroom she would slip them on. Otherwise, she was barefoot all the time! On her way to school, in school...

Our administrator tried various things to tell her that being barefoot was somehow against the rules (NOTE: not merely "unacceptable" or "dangerous", but "against the rules"), yet could never provide her with a consistant argument, nor show her where in the school code or code of conduct such a rule was laid out. So she at first tried to give her detentions, but the young lady would not show up for them. When threatened with suspension for not making her detentions, she finally came. Admin then gave her the standard detention punishment of cleaning up garbage around the school, but she refused when they added "and you can't do it barefoot!" So her friends finally packed her into a shopping cart and they wheeled her around the school grounds and picked up garbage on her behalf.

The administrator in question then threatened those students with detention and suspension!

In the end, the young barefooted lady figured she was better off going to a different school rather than continue to pursue this, as she was afraid she would end up doing something that really would warrant her suspension. She now attends a local Waldorf school where they are quite happy to have a bright and talented young woman going barefoot in their classrooms.

But none of this is about kilts.

Not all. The young ones perhaps. Some actually go into admin to try to fix problems they see with it, other tire of teaching, and going into admin is far easier than starting all over again with college. Some are just power hungry. My wife says she would never want to go into administration. She has had to deal with a few too many idiots in admin to want to join them I think. Like the one that said a poem her class read was overtly sexual and suspended her for just over 2 months. (He said that when it mentioned the flowers in the garden, they were really vaginas, and the persons weeping over their dead husband was really an orgasm. I think he liked Georgia O-Keef (sp?) a bit too much.)

I'm the kind of teacher likely to point out to my students that the poem was actually about vaginas and orgasms.

If in fact it was.

Love the Georgia O'Keefe line.

Too many people in administration spend too much time worrying about perceptions -- how the school might be seen by the community, how the school might be seen by parents -- and not enough time dealing in reality -- how the school is seen by the community, how the school is seen by parents. My own school used to have a really great reputation among parents and in the district for being open to differences, for creating a unique environment that was good for kids in our community, for including parents and the community in the decision making processes that determined how the school would be run... Now we are the same as any other in the district. McSchool. Closed-minded administration -- both at the district level and the school level -- is to blame.

And all of this kind of thing is why I, as a teacher -- an educator -- get frustrated when administrators do silly things and educators take the blame. Seriously: administrators administrate; educators educate. I can't speak for the rest of the world, but I can tell you that where I live (my time is divided between BC and Wisconsin) most principals and vice-principals have not been in a classroom for years.

Okay, end rant.

And back on topic...

I think this guy, the principal, made a boneheaded move, but it sounds to me like it's all coming out well in the end. So I can't hate on him too much. I will stand by my initial response to his reaction, however, and say that the guy is silly.

[sathor]

I can't speak for the rest of the world, but I can tell you that where I live (my time is divided between BC and Wisconsin) most principals and vice-principals have not been in a classroom for years.

When I was in school, our principals covered classes often enough that it wasn't unusual. I think they missed it, some of them anyways. I still find it amusing that once they merged Jr highs, the principal at the one I went to retired and married the secretary of the school.

[Roderick]

When I was in school, our principals covered classes often enough that it wasn't unusual ...

They used to in BC. Administrators here used to be part of the teaching staff. But about ten years ago or so the government separated them. Arguably, our administrators were better when they were also teachers.