The Daily Star was barraged by messages Wednesday from current and former Ponchatoula High School students regarding the enforcement of the dress code since the beginning of classes this school year.
You can read about the issue here.
Who's overreacting – School administrators or students?
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17 comments:
PLEEEAAASSSEEE!!!
Has the uniform dress code changed at PHS? Are the writers of the letters to the editor freshmen who may not be familiar with the dress code? No, they are juniors and seniors, in fact one cheerleader, who are complaining. The upperclassmen, supposedly the leaders, are complaining. It's real simple....comply with the policy or face the consequences. (Sounds like life?) The students have a point, though. It is a waste of time checking uniforms in homeroom (not class) in the morning. So, the solution is just comply with the rule. The policy was debated for years before being implemented so it is not going away anytime soon. And now, as every year, school administration must go through the same game at the beginning of the year. 250-300 out of 1600 students is less than 20%. Sounds like the "Bell Curve?" To the school administrators, thank you for educating our children. To the students, there will be dress codes in your lives for a long time to come. Drop all the drama and find something important in which to invest your energy and leadership skills.
Respectfully,
Mother of two PHS honor grads, 1998 & 2002.
yea lets concentrate our already limited teaching time on looking for tags and five-o-clock shadow not education.. the stringent dress code is and has always been a waste of time and bull@#$% it seems like before the dress code was around people still graduated and did well
The problem is PHS has for a long time and still now feels it's okay to make their own rules. They conveniently changed the wording in the uniform policy in the PHS folder from the parish policy. It should read students shall receive a warning letter, not students may receive a warning letter. Also, I heard students are being suspended for second offenses when the first and second offenses were different issues (ex. 1st offense - no belt; 2nd offense - label on pants). The policy reads you are suspended on the second offense (ex. no belt 2 times), not second incident. The issue stated by someone about jackets is my main concern with this entire issue. The parish policy for jackets is not allowed at PHS. I teach in the parish and it is past time PHS starts following our parish policy, not their own let's make a fortune selling our own jacket policy. By the way, PHS jackets do not adhere to the parish policy. According to parish policy, jackets cannot have hoods or labels. The jackets PHS sells have hoods and have PHS on them, which I would consider a label just like the Dickies, Old Navy, etc. labels. The students are right in this case and PHS needs to start being held accountable like all of the other schools in this parish. There have been many changes since Mr. Kolwe took over, and hopefully he will also enforce PHS following the rules like the rest of the parish schools. We are in the same parish, Kentwood to Ponchatoula, and we need to all be held accountable the same way!
please explain to anyone satisfaction why uniforms are necessary and if they are necessary why school personnel do not wear them
As a retiree with no educators in my family and no children in the school system, perhaps I may be allowed to speak as a totally impartial outside observer. On balance, it seems clear that the school board's Uniform Policy has created more problems than it has solved.
Large numbers of the underprivileged, who could normally buy jeans at Goodwill for a few dollars, can no longer afford the expense that uniforms impose. This situation in turn has necessitated great efforts by people such as those with St. Vincent de Paul to supply the needy with uniforms. Their efforts, though commendable, could surely be directed to more worthy causes.
In addition, undue amounts of time are wasted by teachers and administrators who must enforce the uniform policy. Surely the teachers have more important things to do than act as the uniform police and nit-pick about the proper definition of khaki.
On the other hand, I doubt that anyone would object to a reasonable dress code that promotes a modest and clean-cut image among students.
With these factors in mind, I would thus encourage the Tangipahoa
Parish School Board to scrap the uniform policy effective fall 2008 and use the intervening time to devise a well-worded dress code that leaves room for individuality, while prohibiting appearance that actually hampers learning. The criterion for enforcement should be simply this: Is anyone's education actually being disrupted by this person's appearance?
Come on, School Board, be brave and give it a try. That roar you would hear would be thousands of students, parents, and teachers cheering.
THEY NEED TO FOCUS ON TEST SCORES NOT DRESS CODE KIDS HAVE ENOUGH TO WORRIED ABOUT AT THIS AGE
To the Mother of two PHS honor grads 1998 & 2002
As you stated PLEEEAAASSSEEE!!! No the uniform dress code has not changed at PHS the problem is that PHS makes there own rules and does not go by the parish policy as stated in a comment on this page by someone who is teacher in the parish.
Looks like you had one child who graduated before the dress code was in place so you only had two years of the dress code to worry with which at that time I don't think the dress code was as much an issue as it is now. I had a child going to PHS at that time. I also had a child graduate from PHS in 2000. I am now faced with my last child to attend PHS who is a junior now and my issue is not with the uniforms themselves it is with the fact that a child can be suspended from school because they have stuble, a shadow or what ever you to call it on their face.
Now they have to take A ZERO IN ALL THE CLASSES THAT HAD TESTS ON FRIDAY BECAUSE OF SOMETHING STUPID. TO ME THAT IS NOT EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN. HOW IS THAT DISTRACTING TO THE TEACHING ENVIROMENT.
It is time for us as parents to step up to the plate and do something about this issue since IT WAS A SURVEY THAT WENT OUT TO THE PARENTS OF THE STUDENTS OF TANGIPAHOA PARISH STUDENT BODY AS TO WEATHER WE SHOULD GO TO A UNIFORM SYSTEM OR NOT AND WAS VOTED IN BY THE PARENTS (BE IT NOT ALL PARENTS WANTED UNIFORMS) also as for the cheking of uniforms in homeroom (not class) I am told by many that this is not the case they check at other times of the day also. I think you need to know all the facts of what is happening before posting such comments. Our children are being treated like soldiers and if they don't comply they are suspened. That is not how LIFE is. You have choices in life. There is no reason for an administrator to treat these children the way they do and humiliate them in front of the entire class. I am truly happy you had two honor grads but not all the student are treated equal of which i have experienced first hand.
Respectfully,
Mother of 3 children who have attended Ponchatoula PUBLIC Schools
Too much time is being spent on proper uniform dress code - my 8 year old son, in the 3rd Grade, even got in trouble because be forgot to wear his belt! And I agree with the person who said "if dress codes are so necessary, why doesn't the school personnel have to wear them?" I personally don't agree with some of the clothes I've seen them wearing! I'm sorry, but I'm tired of all of this nonsense about proper school uniforms. Honestly, who cares if there's a logo on the shirt or not? I don't. My kids have more important things to worry about....EDUCATION! And isn't that why we send them to SCHOOL???
Respectfully,
Mother of PHS Student
I am currently a senior at Ponchatoula High and I wanted to comment on the recent dress code "wars" that have been going on at school and in the local media. We have been wearing school uniforms since the 2000-2001 school year. And if students and parents don't have it down pact by now what the students should wear and what they should not wear, it makes me wonder will these students and parents ever get it. Let me remind you. The school board wanted to take a poll of how many parents agreed that it was time for the students of Tangipahoa parish to begin wearing a uniform. Guess what, the parents wanted uniforms.
Some five years later, the parish came to the conclusion that the uniforms that the parents of Tangipahoa parish voted for, were not being enforced enough in the schools. Ponchatoula High is known to be the best academic school in the parish and one of the best in the state. Yes, the administration at Ponchatoula High is very strict on us when it comes to rules and regulations, but I believe that is what makes PHS the best of the best. So to my fellow students at PHS do what you are supposed to do before you step on the campus and you won't have to worry about the administartion getting onto us about the little things that should not even be happening. Come on PHS we are the best in the parish so let's show the other schools how it's supposed to be done.
Respectfully,
PHS Senior
PHS Senior,
It's truly about time that you saw in writing, that your school, is in fact NOT a pioneer in this parish. I have heard that statement as far back as 1988-1989. And on that same note, as a temp employee at the school, I had to hear the PHS high school administrator at the time complain that his son was sharing U.S. Army barracks with black men. YES - you heard me correctly. Needless to say, your school and those who run it never impressed me much. And by the looks of it, hasn't impressed many others in the surrounding areas either. Almost 20 years later in 2007, your school has been listed on the schools in decline, and dropped 8 growth points since. You can read more about it here:
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2006/10/25/top_stories/9919.txt
It sadly appears that the only news you receive about your school, is from your school itself. Fortunately for you, this will come to your advantage if you plan to live in Ponchatoula, raise a family in Ponchatoula, work in Ponchatoula, and die in Ponchatoula. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, if that's what you choose. But the reality appears to be, that the only people that Ponchatoula High School matters to? Is Ponchatoula. In the grand scheme of things, no. It's your high school diploma that people want to see, as it will get you into college and beyond. But outside of your hometown little man, no one could care less what high school you went to, as long as you got your diploma from one.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with school pride. It is encouraged and perforemd at every school across the parish. And for good reason. But a particular school being a cut above the rest? No, PHS Senior. That line of "best in the school system" has been rode hard and hung out to dry. A very long time ago. There is more heart in the administartion and students at your neighboring Hammond schools that anything I have ever witnessed from Ponchatoula. Respectfully PHS Senior, it is PHS who needs to look to others, to see how it's done. I wish you much success. You deserve better than what you've been told to believe. Your writing was nice, until you put your foot in your mouth, which tends to happen quite often once you step into the real world, and not boxed inside your hometown, USA.
I believe that the school has an obligagtion to enforce their rules. If the rules are not to be enforced and students are allowed to thumb their nose in the face of authority - what have we taught them?
Rules are at schools as they should be. No one ever said that kids should thumb their nose at authority. What you see here, are a particular set of rules from PHS that not only go against what the Tangipahoa Parish School board specifies, but right down to a particular shade or thread of khaki that one teacher may approve of, while another teacher down the hall is highly offended with. It doesn't appear to be kids who can't follow the rules. It's the earmark of a bunch of adults who are NOT on the same page, like they should be. Unless God should bless these kids with a crystal ball each year before class, only then can they have an idea of which rules change for whom, and which teacher, and which shade of khaki, the grooming of a beard, what constitutes facial hair and what doesn't, jackets to be worn by design only, while hoodies not allowed by the school board are allowed at PHS and NOT being worn as designed. They've got a real mess there. As a former admin there and only briefly? It looks like the school tries it's best to rid themselves of many of the students who are at risk, so the students who perform well will continue to make their image look good on paper. Ever read the biblical parable about the rancid wine, in the new wineskin? Check it out - that's exactly what this is. You can only make something look good on the outside for so long, before what's rancid inside begins to break down the structure. I wish the kids involved in this mess the absolute very best. As for the adults? They knew better, and didn't care enough about the students and their well being to give a damn. The good news is, OTHER SCHOOLS DO. And it's those other schools and their teachers who are the real heroes in this, both inside and out. Other schools test scores may not be as high as what PHS claims, but the other schools aren't slamming the door in a childs face either. That's PHS's job - they're good at that.
Honestly I think that there is an over-reaction on both parts. The students should wear what they are supposed to, but the teachers shouldn't make a huge deal about minor violations. If a student is completely misdressed then let them face the consequenses, but don't inspect them. It can be humiliating and uncomfortable, plus it's a big waste of time. All things must be done in moderation.
Jessamine Karls
The problem is some students do not want to follow simple rules. As adults we know that when these students enter the work force, they will be confronted more stringent rules on dress etc. Parents need to enforce these rules. Who buys the uniforms that do not meet the school policy.
As a friend once told me...kids have not changed but parents are different. Children need strong role models who follow the rules. Children don't have an opinion about dress codes.
Uniforms? What's so "uniform" about PHS students who wear every color pants (excuse me, lo-riders) from almost white, stone, to barely khaki? They've never been held to wearing uniform pants. My niece and her friends have NEVER and would NEVER be caught dead in real uniform pants. Why, if their pants don't come from Hollister, they'd just as soon quit school. The shirts, uniform? No way! It's white or navy blue, little cap sleeve and at least 3 sizes too small. Get mama to sit for hours snipping a barely visible butterfly or other such critter that would otherwise be hidden beneath the nametag. Instead, there's a hole beneath the nametag. All because PHS students have never been required to wear true uniforms. These students are simply not going to wear them, and the school board seems to be powerless to make them. One student posted a message stating that they could not afford to wear expensive uniforms, they had to resort to buying on sale items from places like Hollister and Old Navy. Our children are so disadvantaged. In the words of "anonymous": PLEEAASSSEE!!! If you're not able to enforce the uniform code, then give it up. Spend your efforts instead on teaching these kids how to write. Not one message, not one, is free of grammar errors. Aunt of a PHS NON-UNIFORM wearer.
Bravo to the "anonymous retiree", and this is one parent cheering for your suggestion already!
we live in a democracy- kudos to the students a phs protesting rules they feel are too harsh- i graduated from phs the first year of uniform codes- i thought they were strict then- they should be proud to be offering the best education in the parish- not the most unifromly dressed students!-what are we teaching these kids- that everyone is the same?- no we do come from different social and economic groups- some of us will be bosses, some employees, some of us will be bums- it's reality- and as the last stop before they hit reality- high schools have an obligation to make sure these students will be active, productive- at least semi-conscious members of an ever colder society. worry about getting these kids excited about college and careers and their future- not whether their khaki pants are the right shade- talk about giving kids a panic attack- they could lose their grades, positions on teams- college scholarships- futures down the drains because their mama bought them the wrong pants-should they suffer- i want the staff to wear uniforms- set an example for the students!- then watch every last one of them(the students)shut-up and learn something!
PHS grad
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