East Village Principal's Dress Code Deprives Teachers Of Jeans

Via

It's bad enough that teachers have to inculcate The Future according to the whims of state bureaucrats while dodging acid and waiting for the mayoral axe to fall on their school. Can't a pedagogue pad around the classroom in Crocs and a Black Flag t-shirt in peace? The principal of an East Village elementary school was fed up with the slovenly appearance of his staff, and instituted a dress code banning spaghetti straps, flip-flops, gym clothes and—gasp—jeans. "We want to transform this school to make it a more professional learning environment," Marlon Hosang, principal of P.S. 64, tells DNAinfo. No word on whether teachers are still allowed to trade their sandwiches for Dunkaroos.

Hosand, who has worked in the school system for 20 years, four of them as principal, noticed a decline in the dress of his colleagues a year ago. "I assure you no teacher wore jeans and flip-flops to their interview," he says. "What happened after that?" Uh, they got a taste of what teaching in New York City is like?

Two teachers are quoted in the article as supporting the new dress code, with one calling it "a reasonable request" and another saying that teachers "need boundaries." And a recent PTA meeting yielded a vote favoring the policy.

But the UFT has received a complaint about the rules from at least one teacher, and Hosang will meet a union rep to discuss their legality; he is likely to lose. Still, Hosang, who wears a suit and tie every day to work, believes that his message to teachers that they should dress professionally has already been received: "I think I would have made my point." Still, parents should expect to see a few more book reports on Levi Strauss this spring.

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By Christopher Robbins in News on December 27, 2011 12:26 PM

Comments [rss]

petey2

nothing wrong with requiring people to look professional.

SuperWittySmitty

A shirt and tie, a pair if jeans that aren't worn out, and some leather shoes is an outfit that is sufficiently professional in today's high school environment. And loosening the tie should not be that big a deal, One can wear jeans and not necessarily look like slobs. I'll bet that if these teachers looked like slobs before the rule, they'll still look like slobs afterwards. Poor kids!

Miles Bader

I used to have a co-worker who had a special suit to wear anyplace that instituted a dress code like this: it was a hideously insane ill-fitting early-70s lapels-the-width-of-a-dinner-plate-bell-bottomed-corduroy thing, kinda stained, which he'd wear with along with some kind of mismatched novelty tie.

Dunno if it ever had any real effect, but at least he could get a bit of fun out of such situations.

FU Boy

I can get behind this. Teachers are an authority figure and should set a good example for the students.

Inconcievable de Impublishable

Yes, because wearing a tie and khaki pants is aspirational.

TBE11

This f*cking school is run by pigs. They take the rights away from all the ... er... teachers.

Freddi BuBu

Actually, what I found distracting as a 3rd grader at PS 249 during the 70s was Ms Singer's black bra, which I could always see when she raised her arm. I guess that pretty much explains my fetish....

redo_undo

My sister went to a high school in Chelsea that didn't have a dress code for students or teachers. The kids once got together and asked one of their teachers to please wear a bra because her lack of a bra was distracting. Teachers need boundaries.

m015094

If you don't like the dress code, don't work there. Simple enough.

Guest

While that makes sense, I will never understand the irrational hate of jeans as business attire.

unretrofiedforu

Something tells me you haven't dealt w/ accounts where the price number is more than 6 spaces have you? :)

Guest

No, I have. I just don't get why people have an irrational hate of denim. It's dumb. There is no real reason for it other than stuffy (usually white) people that want to dictate how the rest of the business world works.

randomtransplant

Something tells me your projecting a particular industries standards out into an overly broad generalization.

Something else tells me that teachers, and most of their pupils, don't deal with those accounts in their professional lives anyways.