Warrenton High School students will be allowed to wear hats and have their hoods pulled up in school after the Warren County R-III School Board voted to revise the school’s dress code.

Considerable deliberation went into the decision at the school board’s monthly meeting on May 13. The change only affects the high school, not students in the elementary and middle school buildings.

Previously hoods and hats were not permitted at any level, but some teachers were more relaxed on the rule than others, creating frustration among a group of students about the lack of consistency. 

“I went and talked with those students,” said R-III Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith. “They sent some information to the discipline committee. The board asked for the students to come, and it’s always great to hear from students. I valued their input.”

In attendance at the meeting were five of those students, represented by Nick Trittler, who made a statement and fielded questions from the board. 

“Any time we have a controversial item like this, we work collaboratively to come up with what we think is best for the district,” said Klinginsmith. “I thought everybody did a wonderful job of listening to all the opinions and voting for what they thought was best for the district.”

Rather than change the school district’s dress code as a whole, the board ultimately decided to take separate votes on the policy change at each school level.

The board voted 5-2 in favor of allowing hats and hoods at the high school. However, the same change had majority opposition for lower grades. Board members voted 4-3 against  allowing hats and hoods in the middle school and 6-1 in opposition for the elementary buildings.

The board stressed the importance of consistency to prevent students from having to adjust to different expectations in different classes.

“The recommended policy is teacher’s authority in their classroom,” said board treasurer Rodger Tucker. “That’s where I have an issue. You either get to wear it everywhere or you shouldn’t. I like consistency.”

It was that preference for consistency that Tucker cited as his reason for changing his vote for different school levels. Once the elementary policy he voted in favor of failed, he opposed the following two policies so as to keep the policy the same across all building levels.

“You really make rules at school based on two reasons: is it a distraction to the learning environment, and is it a safety concern,” said Klinginsmith. “This no longer seems to fit either of those criteria, so that’s why we’ve decided to move forward with allowing hats and hoods at the high school level.”

The discussion touched on other behaviors that are seen as connected to wearing a hat or hood, such as sleeping in class. Advocates for change said the root cause of those behaviors would likely express themselves either way. Trittler affirmed that a student who pulls his hood up and puts his head down to sleep in class would likely do the same without the use of a hood.

“It’s a heart issue, not a hat or hood issue,” said board member Sarah Janes. “The behaviors will still be there, even if the hats or hoods are not.”

Klinginsmith said COVID-19 actually alleviated previous concerns the district had about allowing students to wear hats and hoods. 

“One of those was safety and that we wouldn’t be able to identify students with hats and hoods on,” said Klinginsmith. “What we learned this past year was that with all the kids wearing masks, we were still able to identify students. Our administrators do a wonderful job of getting to know kids, so we no longer feel like hats or hoods would create a barrier in identifying students.”