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FHN Student Panel Looks to Change Current Hat Policy

Students+in+FHNs+newly+formed+Student+Panel%2C+speak+to+teachers+about+changes+theyd+like+to+see+made+to+the+current+hat+policy.

Credit to Madison Abanathie

Students in FHN’s newly formed Student Panel, speak to teachers about changes they’d like to see made to the current hat policy.

By Madison Abanathie, FHNtoday Managing Editor

To hat or not to hat? That is the question eight student leaders had for teachers. In a meeting held each hour on Dec. 12, teachers could come listen to students speak during their plan hour. The clubs represented were KOE, FHN United, Publications, Student Council, Senior and Junior NHS, Performing Arts and Students for FHN. To start off the meeting, Publications Representative Emily Hood played a video that featured Lafayette High School’s hat tolerance policy.

“I think the biggest thing that we took from that video was just the amount of school spirit that hats had brought,” Hood said. “Kids felt like they belonged more to their school, they talked about how a lot of clubs and organizations had bought hats to represent and kids were able to wear them in the halls.”

After the video, Goonies Representative Adam Shine talked about the results of a hat survey that was circulated at the end of November. Shine stated that 83 percent of responding students didn’t find hats a distraction and that 59 percent of student would wear a hat if allowed. Throughout the presentation, different representatives had examples of how the hat policy would work and cited examples where those policies had worked before. Citing cultural and religious needs, current companies business models and another school case.

We think, because most of the reason now someone wears a hat is because of illness or religious clothing,” FHN United Representative Dillon Lauer said, “if we just allow them to wear it then it’s more exclusive, instead of if we just all wear hats then it would be inclusive and we would all be together.”

Some concerns that teachers still had were about students wearing hoodies or a hat and hoodie combo. Teachers said that it is hard to identify the student in cases of discipline. The Student Panel agreed saying that they don’t plan on changing the hoodie policy, but changing it so students could wear baseball caps and other hats that aren’t distracting or large.

“I have a problem with hoodies and the worst part of seeing kids walk down the hall is half of them have hoodies on,” Business Teacher Mim Eaton-Parsons said. “Those are the students that you can’t get them to keep their hoodies down and we’re going to have the same problem in disciplining those students for wearing their hoodies as we do chasing them down the hall, because they have a hat on.”

If put in place, there would still be some restrictions. Teachers still have the power to decide a policy for their classroom and have the ability to invoke a “no hats during testing” policy to minimize the chances of  a student cheating, but it appears as if a change will be coming to the FHN hat policy soon.