According to usnews.com, “more than 80% of districts ban head coverings such as hats, bandanas and scarves. East is one of these districts, and many of its students are unhappy with this ruling.
Darel Stewart is a senior at East and he feels like he has been affected by the hat ban.
Stewart was asked about his opinion on the hat ban.
It’s a little weird because I feel like some hats should be allowed. I get caps not being allowed because your face needs to be seen on cameras and stuff like that. Brimless hats should be allowed, like beanies, those little things that wrap around your head. Like if you see my face every day and you see me wearing a hat. Why do I need to take it off?” Stewart Said.
The thing is, It’s not just the students at East that are unhappy with the current state of the rule. Even some dean’s assistants, who are the primary enforcers of the rule, believe the hat ban is no longer a necessary requirement to identify students from security cameras.
Jim Caliendo is one of those dean’s assistants, who sometimes needs to identify students via security camera. Caliendo was asked about why the hat ban was originally instated.
“Basically, it was made because they didn’t want any covering of the head or face, so you couldn’t tell who it was.” Caliendo said.
Paul Simon is another dean’s assistant, who was asked about how the old rule is holding up.
“For the face being visible to the cameras, I think that’s still incredibly relevant. But I do think that styles and headwear styles are changed, and that it’s possible mostly to still be applied, but allowing for certain headwear that doesn’t cover the face.” Simon said.
Students want to wear hats. Dean’s assistants know that not all hats are the disguise the ban makes them out to be. Regardless, hats are still unnecessarily banned at East.
Written by senior Josiah Slezak. Edited by staff writers for Oswego East’s online news magazine The Howl.