April 16th, 2015

After much reflection, investigating, listening and growing this is where we have landed at Stanley Park for this spring. As principal I have a Principal Advisory Committee made up of representatives from each class.  The PAC has been collecting information, and so have I.  Today we shared our thoughts about:

Why we have a dress code?

Who should monitor the dress code?

What happens if students are not following general boundaries (making poor choices) or self regulating?

We compared it to our BYOD and concluded that all our guidelines, for almost ever thing, are about:

1. Educating students on choices – reminders are necessary at this age to continue to help students on their journey of growing up and making choices

2. Teaching responsibility and self regulation which is what students earn more and more of as they progress through life

3. Manage by exception (deal only with extreme cases) – FAIR DOES NOT MEAN EQUAL, it means you get what you need

They agreed that the guidelines are still fine as a GENERAL rule of thumb but that we understand students are not going to be OVER managed by us. They will regulate this, along with their parents — and just like the BYOD we may end up regulating it for some students if their choices or lack of self regulation become an issue.

The great thing about our Gator population is that they are very excited about gaining that choice and responsibility that come with making these important choices.

 

Categories: Principal's Message