DETROIT LAKES (KDLM) – Should students be allowed to wear hats in school? That was a topic of discussion at the latest Detroit Lakes School Board meeting on Monday.
The board voted to clear up language regarding student dress and appearance that limits students wearing headgear including hats or head coverings in school buildings except with the approval of the building principal.
The policy, unexpectedly became a hot topic with John Steffl, particularly with the board’s decision to remove the phrase “in keeping with community standards” from the policy which encourages students to be dressed appropriately for school activities. “To remove ‘community standards’ from certain policies says to me we know better than you do – those that put us in this position – to put one person in charge of policy 504 student dress and appearance seems to go against what we are trying to do for students,” Steffl said.
Other board members, however argued that the removal of the language was simply a way to clean up the wording and the district’s principals and administrators should be trusted to implement the policy at their discretion.
“When I look around as an adult at all the different occupations that I’ve seen and been in and different places I’ve been, there are a lot of people wearing hats and it doesn’t necessarily affect the academic experience,” said Courtney Henderson “If it did, that would be a problem and that would be taken care of, but if a hat isn’t hurting their learning or the learning of other students then I don’t see that that even matters.”
The policy with the language changes was ultimately approved with Steffl as the only dissenting voter. A copy of the adjusted policy is available below.
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