Wednesday, October 15, 2014

MAPLEWOOD MOM'S DRESS CODE FIGHT GOES NATIONAL AGAIN AS BOARD REVIEWS NEW POLICY

We first told you about the sexist dress code of the South Orange-Maplewood School district back in June and the national notice given to it by local mom and writer Jennifer Weiss-Wolf.

More recently, the code was updated to declare it must be enforced equally among the sexes. The school board will review the new version at Monday's regular meeting.

Weiss-Wolf is back at it this week with a piece in Al Jazeera America that gives notice she and others will not rest until fairness and equality in dress codes prevails.

Her column says, in part:

Our coalition is seeking a change of perspective and focus away from the culture of punishment, blame and shaming and toward one of equality and respect. Our goal is to create a districtwide policy that ensures equal treatment of girls, including fair messaging to and expectations of boys. We hope to promote a healthy dialogue among students and faculty about sexism and stereotypes. In consultation with district leadership, we formed a task force this fall to help gather input from the community and provide feedback to and meet regularly with the local school board, district superintendent and school principals to establish a new, collaborative and appropriate dress code policy that will be in place by spring 2015.

Read the rest HERE.

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