The new Official School Board Dictionary defines lists “distracting” as a synonym to “harrassing”
Elmore County bars Confederate flag, Malcolm X emblems
What do the Confederate flag, Malcolm X, Star of David, Palestinian Flag and a purple ribbon all have in common?
The Elmore County Board of Education voted to change its dress code to adhere to its harassment policy, said James Myers, assistant superintendent. The policy defines harassment as anything that distracts and prevents students, teachers or faculty from completing work.
Anything that distracts is considered harrassment. That’s a dangerous policy, and I’m not only talking about those certain young ladies who are distracting no matter what they wear.
A Dixie Outfitters t-shirt is harrassing, a t-shirt with Martin Luther King on it is not. So says the county’s “diversity committee”. This committee must include at least one minority member from each community in Elmore County. No requirement for non-minority members is noted.
I understand the need to keep a viable and productive learning environment but this is quite simply pre-emptive overkill. A simple policy giving general guidelines is more than sufficient. If a student makes an actual disruption with their clothing then that particular student may be repremanded. There is no need in the world to create an Orwellian oligarchy to parse out which particular images are “plusgood” and which are “ungood”.
I also have a huge problem with the body nominally in charge of educating kids actively participating in the destruction of the English language by equivocating “distracting” and “harassing”.