Posted on 01/27/2003 9:42:11 AM PST by 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."
Will you use a coding form and a pencil? I want to watch. 
Can they?
. . .perhaps if they enforced a dress code; which I think is good; they would have the need to express their individuality where it counts. . .their thinking.
Well let's see, McKay. You've already mutilated your face with the piercing. Why not cut off your nose to spite your face?
"I can do anything I want to and you can't stop me!"
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The Confederate Battle Flag (above) is often confused with the "Stars and Bars"
It amazes me though how some women can think they can get away with some of the choices they make, as far as piercings go. It can look like cheap trash if the body isn't right.
BTW, before the accusations of sexism start to fly, I'm not talking about men here, because I could give a crap how they look.
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