Hats allowed: SAD 17 board changes student dress code - Lewiston Sun Journal

PARIS — Shaelyn Hanscom, Tiana James and Marissa Paine, student council representatives from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, lobbied the School Board at its Feb. 3 meeting to change SAD 17’s student dress code policy to allow students to wear hats in school.

The three students were on hand again Monday night as the Board voted to change the policy.

OHCHS Senior Shaelyn Hanscom of Norway, Junior Tiana James of Paris and Senior Marissa Payne of Paris successfully lobbied the SAD 17 School Board to change its policy regarding students wearing hats in school Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat

At the first reading of the proposed change last month, three SAD 17 directors were against the policy change. That number grew to seven by Monday night. It was not enough to affect the outcome, as nine members of the SAD 17 board voted to change the policy and allow hats.

Some limits will remain: no hats may be worn during the Pledge of Allegiance, national anthem, other solemn exercise or when a guest is making a speech or presentation on school grounds. Teachers also retain the authority to ask that all hats be removed while students are in their individual classrooms.

Director Scott Buffington of Paris spoke against the change, saying it was about teaching kids acceptable and respectable behavior in a public setting. He finished by stating how his dad told him he should always take off his hat.

Director Judy Green of North Waterford countered that when she was a student she would have been expelled for wearing pants instead of a skirt to school but that times have changed. She also predicted that more than 50% of the adult males at the next annual town meeting would not remove their hats inside.

Director Barry Patrie of North Waterford agreed that updating the dress code is not a bad thing.

“I am a senior citizen,” Patrie said. “I’ve seen a lot of culture change in my lifetime. And I don’t see a damn thing wrong with this.”

David Dunn, director from Hebron, did his research on the matter.

Seven SAD 17 Directors vote against changing student dress code policy to allow hats be worn in school Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat

“We were wondering why we don’t wear hats inside,” he said. “So I googled it. The reason this first began is because people would come in from the trail. They would sit down at the table and stuff would fall in their plate [of food]. So they started to take their hats off at the door. I think that times have changed.”

In other matters, SAD 17 Superintendent Rick Colpitts explained how the district has been preparing for the possibility the highly contagious coronavirus reaches Maine.

He said SAD 17 is following the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention’s guidelines and will take appropriate steps as the agency advises. The district will send letters to all staff members and parents with information from the Maine CDC.

Colpitts also explained that students have been planning and raising funds since 2018 for field trips to New York, Spain and France.

Ted Moccia, principal at OHCHS, said he is working with trip organizers to find out what options are available for students in light of potential travel advisories.

Spain and France are currently functioning under advisories and cautions that are similar to those now in place in the United States.

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