Tonight I left my boys' back-to-school night feeling completely and utterly defeated with tears in my eyes. Over what? Dress code. Yes, you read that right...dress code. The school had been in uniforms for the past five years or so and this year decided to discontinue them due to parent and student outcry. I was 100 percent supportive of the decision, which is neither here nor there. But on Sunday night we received a phone blast reviewing the new dress code policy and one of the items was no camouflage...no camouflage anything. This struck me as odd seeing as how the print is very popular and yes, we bought a few items with camo print. I'm typically pretty good at reading through policies, but I missed the no camo. I called the school who said they weren't sure of the reason for it on the policy and directed me to the superintendent's office. I called and left two messages with no response.
Tonight I saw the superintendent, inquired about whether he had received my messages to which he responded he did, and politely asked him to call me tomorrow. He brought me into the hallway and informed me that he was intentionally ignoring my messages. He said he was refusing to answer any questions regarding dress code because the decision had been made months ago. I said I just wanted to know the reasoning behind the no camouflage, which he couldn't or wouldn't give me a reason nor would he answer my questioning as to the type of research put into this new dress code (we are the only school district in a 10 mile radius, maybe more, with this restriction). He began to raise his voice to me saying I could have completed surveys, attended board meetings, etc. There was one survey which I completed and one board meeting which I attended. I couldn't get in a syllable without him interrupting me and finally he said he wasn't speaking with me about this at back-to-school night. I asked him to call me! He initiated the discussion which quickly turned confrontation.
Where do I go from here? We live in such a small district, only two schools total. One elementary school. One middle/high school. We puff out our chest because we have the small town, personal touch, but your question doesn't matter, your concerns don't matter, you will be ignored. I won't even pretend to hear what you have to say. I will say right to your face, I'm ignoring you. How does that trickle down to our students?
