Dress code row rocks Godfrey Stewart High
Published:Tuesday | September 13, 2022 | 12:09 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Some students of the 8Godfrey Stewart High School in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, were barred from entering the compound yesterday as administrators reportedly accused them of violating the dress code.
The situation infuriated some parents, who joined their children in protesting the stance,
“They do not want to let us in because of the uniform as they claim our uniforms are too short, but I do not agree because mine is not short,” one visibly upset female student told The Gleaner.
“I think they should let us in because it is not the uniform that is learning,” added the ninth-grader.
A mother of two students affected – one in grade eight and the other in grade nine – said the administrators were being unreasonable, especially given the fact that the uniforms were provided by the school.
“I bought the uniforms at the school because they sew them here, and before school closed [at the end of the last school term], I made sure I bought the uniforms and put them down so that I would not have that rush when September morning come,” the woman said. “Now they are saying that they are not taking my kids in because the uniforms are to\o short, and it is at the school I bought them. I did not go out and make them.”
The parents said they were also peeved as they were only notified of the dress code via letters on August 27 after questions posed earlier by parents in a school WhatsApp group were ignored by administrators.
After several unsuccessful attempts, The Gleaner caught up with Principal Emily Lawrence-Ricketts in the mid-afternoon. She flatly denied the claims, but refused to speak in detail on the issue.
She claimed media reports on the situation “now it puts us in a bad light when that (claims) was really not so.
“I cannot give you any more information than what you have at this time,” Lawrence-Ricketts said.
Richard Dennis, the regional advisor for the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica’s Region Four, said that parents and teachers should meet and deliberate over contentious issues to prevent such situations from arising.
“One of my colleagues down there (Godfrey Stewart) just called me to inform me that there are some issues at the institution,” said Dennis. “The school should have an active PTA in place, and I would recommend that they get to their PTA president and have dialogue with the president to look at what the challenges are and how they, as an association, can meet with the board of governors.
“The president should sit on the school board and would be a part of the decision-making process. What we want is to have active PTAs (parent-teacher associations) in the schools to reduce these kinds of activities as best as possible,” added Dennis.
Last month, Education Minister Fayval Williams noted that barring students from entering school due to policy breaches was in contravention of Article 28 of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, as well as the 2004 Child Care and Protection Act.