School Board Okays Boys Wearing Earrings at CHS

Should there be differences between boys and girls in the Student Dress Code for Central schools? That was the issue Central school board grappled with at two recent meetings.  Some members of the board are afraid the board will be sued if there are any differences.  So should boys be allowed to wear dresses and earrings? 

It all began with a recommendation by the Central Community School System’s Disciplinary Committee, an obscure committee created by the state legislature. The committee recommended that a number of differences between the sexes in the Central student dress code be changed.  At a meeting of the school board’s Committee on Curriculum, Accountability, Instruction, and Student Services, most of the Disciplinary Committee’s recommendations were rejected.  However, one significant change was approved.  The committee voted to allow boys to wear earrings to school and school-sponsored events for the first time in the history of Central. A majority of the committee agreed boys and girls could wear two earrings per ear, with earrings being the size of a quarter and a dangle no larger than a quarter.  

When the proposal arrived at the full Central School Board meeting on April 11, board member Sharon Browning offered a “compromise” to allow boys and girls to wear one stud earring per ear.  However, board member Roxanne Atkinson amended that to allow boys and girls to wear two stud earrings in each ear.

The only opposition came from board member Kim Powers who said boys and girls are different and should have different standards of dress. She objected to efforts to have sexes look the same. In a statement after the meeting, she said, “If we are truly going to be a world class school system, our students should have high standards and be clean cut and professional looking. I object to boys wearing earrings at Central schools.”