...for every time I had to tell a kid to take his/her (usually his) hood or hat off, I'd be retired already. I've already had to do it today, in fact.Our school does not allow hoods or hats to be worn inside. We have a pretty relaxed dress code otherwise; this seems to be the battle that we've decided to fight. I don't particularly mind this rule; I see where the deans are coming from, for example, when they say it's a safety and security concern. While my school is pretty safe, we do have metal detectors, and I have to admit that they're there for a reason. So I get that.
On the other hand, it gets pretty frustrating, and I can say that, while many kids just forget or absentmindedly pull their hoods up, there are some chronic offenders. Our AP has quite the baseball cap collection waiting to be picked up by parents in his office--parents, as you can imagine, who do not necessarily make it their number one priority to pick up little Joey's Yankees hat from school when little Joey is, say, 17.
So when I read this article, detailing how a Chicago charter school fines students for the most mundane of behavior offenses, I have to admit I was briefly intrigued. Maybe hitting them in the wallet for refusing to remove their $50 custom-embroidered hat is just the thing they need? I'm kidding, mostly, but let's not any of us pretend we haven't fantasized about putting this kind of system in place. Obviously many of the most challenged students behaviorally are the same students who can least afford--financially or emotionally--to live under such a system. Although, let's not forget, this is a charter school--they and their families opted in of their own free wills.
All I know is that the only way I'd agree to work under such a system is if I got to keep the money personally. Retirement at 37, here I come.
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