FISHERS — On Wednesday night, the Hamilton Southeastern Board of Trustees voted 5-2 to make changes to the student dress code.
Some of the changes include no strapless tops, spaghetti straps, hats or hoodies over a student's head.
Carolyn Porzuczek is one of the few who spoke during public comment. She's a teacher and member of the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association.
"We’ve stated over and over again that positive relationships are built on trust," Porzuczek said during her public comment.
Prozuczek is among those who are frustrated with some of the changes the board is making.
However, what they’re the most concerned with is how the changes were made. They do not believe the board followed proper procedures.
“There’s a process that we follow, as far as getting all the stakeholder’s input. The committee, as well as the association with families and students, have been working since January to start this process. It has gone through every building, and we’ve had surveys. Recommendations were made a couple of weeks ago. The change now has not gone through that process,” Porzuczek said.
The two board members who voted against the change say they were doing so because of the concern that proper procedures weren’t followed.
President Dawn Lang says the surveys were never brought to the board’s attention.
"I think there’s many processes in place. Over the last 100 days, we’ve had four meetings in front of the public and work sessions, so it’s been very clear what our interests were and what changes and updates we wanted to see in the handbook policy. It’s been noted. It’s nothing we’ve hidden from. It’s something we’ve been vocal about for quite a while and as a school board, we have the authority to provide those updates," Lang said.
The changes will go into effect on the first day of the school.
The board says there's certain criteria for each grade level and some of the overarching changes that were made will be a teacher’s discretion.
"I don’t think it will change a whole lot for myself. I’m an elementary school teacher, and I just work on talking with my students. I did see some of those things based on hoodies are discretion of a teacher, so I’m thankful that’s there because it depends on the student. As a professional, I will make that determination in my classroom," Porzuczek said.
The HSE Board also say some of the rules were in the handbook pre-COVID. Now they're putting them back in.
