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April 29, 2010
Sarah Delanda and Htoo Htoo Lu
The hat policy enacted by the Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) this year caused quite a stir among students. On WHS campus, students protested by wearing hats to school.
For some students, such as senior Christopher Valdez, the hat policy was only a minor annoyance.
“I’m not really a hat person, so it didn’t affect me personally. However, it limited students’ rights to express themselves,” Valdez said.
But for others, it was much more than that. Student activities officer senior Sean Chadha contributed to the nearly one thousand signatures presented to the district on a petition.
“I have been caught multiple times and even have received a referral for my hat-wearing but I continue to do it ,” Chadha said. “Staff should turn their head the other way and not encourage stupidity.”
The district policy states that a student or a group of students can file a complaint to the district if they feel their rights are being infringed upon. They will be given a hearing within three days of their claim if their claim is valid.
Other schools across the country have developed alternatives to ignoring their disgruntled students. In Cambridge, student representative Cody Doucette convinced his school to allow students to wear hats for a trial period after a long-time tension between the school and the students. If hat-wearing was proven to not be a problem- which it eventually was- students would be allowed to wear them for good.
After a protest against the hat rule at Bakersfield’s Ridgeview High School, administrators agreed to meet with students. While they did not change the policy against non-school hats, they did allow students to design the hats.
It is unreasonable to be angry at our school administrators for enforcing a school rule that we do not like. However, it is not unreasonable to be irritated at the lack of responsibility being taken for the rule. It’s a blame cycle. The students blame Washington staff. Washington staff blames the district. The district blames the police, and the police blame the students. If no one is going to stand behind the rule, why is it so difficult to have it revoked? No one is willing to step up to the plate to stand behind their position except for the students, and even still, we aren’t being listened to.
How many gang members would take the time to make a petition for hats? Hats do not cause gang fights.
Hats do not hide the identity of a person. If anything, one can identify someone by the familiarity of their clothing. They might be considered disrespectful to wear in class or even an instrument to cheat on tests, but then why can’t we wear them on non-test days? Or take them off in class? Or between passing periods?
There is a fine line between protecting students and infringing on their rights. While taking hats away is not comparable to taking away our right to a trial by jury or our ability to vote, it is not fair that the students are still easily mistrusted and not given enough say in the district policies.
