Order to remove piercings sparks student outrage

The Standard ^ | 1/27/03 | Grant LaFleche

[truenospinzone]

It's not much bigger than a thumbtack, but if 17-year-old Matthew McKay shows up at school wearing it, he could be suspended.

"It's unfair and I think very, very hypocritical," said McKay, who like all students at Denis Morris High School in St. Catharines, has been told to remove eyebrow or lip piercings by Feb. 4. Those who do not comply can be kicked out of school until they do.

"The students are outraged. I'm outraged," said McKay, who has a small eyebrow piercing. "I was planning on coming back next year for extra credits. Now, I do not know if it will be at this school."

The Grade 12 student has had his piercing for nearly a year and said school officials didn't make a fuss. All that changed Monday when an announcement came over the public address system instructing all Denis Morris students to remove the facial jewelry while at school.

Principal Maurice Charbonneau said Thursday the policy against facial piercing is nothing new. "It is merely the enforcement of the policy," he said, noting concerns about safety, cleanliness and potential distractions to the learning environment from eyebrow and lip piercings.

Charbonneau said the school administration and a parents' council review and update the school dress code at the end of each school year. This year, the code was updated to include prohibitions against some kinds of facial piercing.

Charbonneau said multiple earrings and small studs in the nose "that do not protrude" were accepted under the code. Eyebrow and lip piercing were banned.

There was little attention paid to students with such piercing until they returned to class from the Christmas break.

"We noticed a significant increase in the number of the students with facial piercings," Charbonneau said.

With the new popularity of pins punched through eyebrows and lips, Charbonneau felt it would be prudent to enforce the revised code. Students who do not follow the code will have a letter sent home to their parents and can be suspended until the piercing is removed.

Students, however, didn't take kindly to the orders.

"I don't think it is right to ask for some piercing to be taken out while others are allowed to be left in," Grade 12 student Michelle Brain, who sports an eyebrow ring, wrote in a letter to The Standard. "(I) have good marks in all my classes. So why should a good student be forced halfway through the year to leave? I didn't hurt anyone."

McKay said students are frustrated because the handbook they received at the start of the school year outlining school policies is somewhat vague on the issue.

"Students are not permitted to wear extra-wide hip belts, hip pouches or excessive jewelry, or to use excessive hair dye, or to have excessive body piercing," the handbook said.

"Well, what does the word excessive mean?" said McKay. "How is one eyebrow piercing excessive? My first period teacher has at least seven piercings in one ear. Why isn't that excessive?"

Charbonneau said the handbook was deliberately written that way to allow flexibility to cope with changing fads and fashions.

"You cannot foresee everything," Charbonneau said. "That is why we review the policy each year."

He likened the dress code to similar policies in workplaces, where an employee is expected to conform to certain standards of appearance and conduct while on the job.

"So it is not like we are saying they can't have them at all," he said. "We are saying they have to take them out while they are at school. Wear them the rest of the time if they like."

McKay said that is not really practical for many students, especially those with new piercings.

"It takes anywhere from three months to a year for the piercing to heal properly," he said. "If you take it out all the time, the hole can close up or you can get an infection."

McKay is suggesting the school "grandfather" facial piercings, allowing those students who have them to keep them, but forbidding those who do not from getting them.

Charbonneau said the dress code does change from time to time -- that is why some forms of piercing are acceptable while others are not -- but that for now, the policy will be enforced.

"A few years ago, having several piercings in your ear would never have been allowed, so who knows? Maybe in the future, eyebrow piercings will be acceptable."

[truenospinzone]

Who knows, could be an interesting discussion...

[ClearCase_guy]

McKay is suggesting the school "grandfather" facial piercings

Lovely use of the language.

[AppyPappy]

Suddenly, they learn the government that bans the Stars and Bars can also ban piercings.

[wideawake]

Grade 12 student Michelle Brain

Never a child less aptly named.

[Dante3]

They might start claiming that piercings are part of their relition (there already is a church of body modification which preaches that mutilations promote salvation or something like that) or an alternative life style. I wonder how long before ACLU will take up their case -- unless it is too busyd defending pedophiles and hunting for displays of the Ten Commandments.

[Lysander]

The only solution is an end to the state indoctrination centers.

[sinclair]

Uh, Dude that's Canada. They never flew the Stars and Bars. Too bad for them. Maybe they would have gotten it right.

[HELLRAISER II]

As much as I don't like facial piercings, I don't believe that it's any of the school's business about nose rings and the such. I would however be happy if they would force the little punks to keep their pants wrapped around their waist instead of at their crotch with their underwear showing.

[ladylib]

Canada.

[FormerLib]

Odds are these rules are being pushed by gutless parents who are too spineless to enforce these guideless upon their own children. They must turn to someone else to aid them.

[NYDave]

What a bunch of twits these students are. Whatever happened to discipline? The holes created by this body mutilation can close over time. I wonder, however, how some of these morons will feel 20 or 30 years down the road when all of their hard-metal tattoos are still on their bodies. We all rebelled, to some degree, as kids but it appears to have gotten out of hand.

[VMI70]

"Well, what does the word excessive mean?" said McKay.

Correct response: "It's whatever I say it means you little brat; now get to class."

[Centurion2000]

"It's unfair and I think very, very hypocritical," said McKay, who like all students at Denis Morris High School in St. Catharines, has been told to remove eyebrow or lip piercings by Feb. 4.

Life is not fair .... get used to it.

[AppyPappy]

I'm almost sure you cannot wear the Stars and Bars in Canadian schools either. I believe someone posted an article about it a year ago.

[garyhope]

If I ever get pierced or tattooed, Freepers have my permission to shoot me.

If I ever start listening to C-rap music, the same dictum applies.

[That Subliminal Kid]

Bah, the public screwls are way too lax. There should be a uniform dress code, no piercings of any kind for anyone, no make up, hair no longer than a certain length for men, etc. School is not a democracy. It's a totalitarian dictatorship. Period.

[R2]

My kids know that if I can grab it with pliers they probably don't want to sport it. Of course the earrings in female ears are not attacted to my my pliers.

[verity]

Done deal! :~)

[Xenalyte]

"My first period teacher has at least seven piercings in one ear. Why isn't that excessive?"

Seven in one ear is indeed excessive.

[Paradox]

We all rebelled, to some degree, as kids but it appears to have gotten out of hand.

Actually, it was already "out of hand" back then, at least to those whom "we" rebelled against. (I personally didn't, but I just didn't see a reason too). Next generation will wonder why they have to cover up their brightly tatooed genitalia.. Its just a slippery slope we've been sliding down now for about 3 generations or so...