Dress Code - February 5, 2009

The School Board is considering implementing a dress code at the high schools and has begun drafting a dress code policy. Associate Superintendent Rick Sherrill presented a first draft of the policy to the board at the meeting on February 2. After some discussion of the merits of the policy, Ms. Norman commented that she didn’t think that the draft policy should be included on the Burke County Public Schools website for public review, because people would not understand that it was just a draft. She went on to elaborate on how she wanted this policy to be drafted “in a respectful way.” When Mr. Wilkinson stated that he wanted the public’s opinion on the policy, Ms. Norman responded with a rant about people starting rumors about policies and said something about people who write letters to the newspaper because they like to see their name in print. Mr. Buff went so far as to have Mr. Sherrill “look in to the camera and tell everyone on TV that this is a draft.” Several of the Board members (Wilkinson, Armour and Barnard) indicated that they had no problem with posting the draft on the school website, as long as the public understood that this was a draft policy. Those same members wanted to hear the public’s comments about the draft policy and the dress code in general.

I don’t think it is too presumptuous to assume that I am perceived by some on the Board as one of the folks who “likes to see their names in print” so I’ll indulge those members by stating my opinion in print. I remind the board chair that when I spoke at the December 15th board meeting, I asked that ancillary documents be posted on the website if they were presented to the board. The board has caused the previous confusion by not posting updates of the media policies as they were drafted. The only access the public had to the media policy before I spoke to the board was the draft that was published in the News Herald in November of 2008. By the time the “second reading” rolled around in December, that policy had been updated/modified two times, but citizens who were unhappy about the previously published policy had no idea the document had been changed.

Ms. Chairperson, the problem is not that people get “carried away” with board policy making or that people like me are “disrespectful.” The problem is the lack of transparency the board demonstrates when making policy. If you do not want people like me making judgments about the language in a policy, then allow the public access to the drafts, (or at least explain to the public in a forum that the public has access to) that the board is considering drafting a policy, and the reasons why that policy is being considered. The dress code policy has many facets – good and bad – and the citizens of Burke County should be aware of the Board’s motivation and action every step of the way. You will get cooperation from the public when you let the sun shine on the board’s activity regarding the drafting of policies that affect the public.

Catherine Thomas
1660 Plantation Ct.
Morganton, NC 28655