With the pandemic, the world has witnessed drastic changes and has had to make lifestyle changes. The children, in particular, are given little or no chance to physically interact with their friends. Part of the fun of going back to school is the social aspect. Unfortunately, even that has been taken away. For now, it’s online classes and social distancing.
Springfield, Illinois, hasn’t been spared from the pandemic. In fact, online classes are about to begin. Still, administrators are still attempting to take as much control as they can by mandating the children to wear proper clothes, even while at home.
The school district will be requiring each and every one of the students to follow proper protocol when it comes to dressing up for classes. Even when the children are at home, sitting in front of their computers, they will not be allowed to wear house clothes such as pajamas, slippers, and bandanas. They also can’t wear hats and sunglasses while they are in class.
Jason Wind is the director of student support of the school district, and he reiterates, “We don’t need students in pajamas and all those other things while on their Zoom conferences. More importantly, the students are expected to be sitting up and out of bed when this happens. In fact, many of the parents may need to get ready and set up a proper work space for their brood.”
Bree Hankins, the spokeswoman for the district, maintained that the parents were actually given the chance to voice out their opinions with the new guidelines. She also insisted that the school district isn’t threatening to give punishments to those who break the rules. She says, “Our hope is that students approach remote learning as they would in a classroom setting, to the extent possible given each student’s individual circumstances. However, we understand the interpretation of the dress code in a remote learning environment will differ from a normal school setting.”
While many of the parents are in accordance with the new guidelines, there are also some who have voiced out their objections, believing that these created needless work from their end. In fact, Christy Schmidt, a mother of two children, expressed her frustration with the new policies and guidelines saying, ”How much hassle are you going to give the parent with four kids, working a full-time job trying to support their kids, and their kid attended the Zoom meeting, but he was in pajamas?”
Despite the polarizing takes on the new policy, school in Springfield will start on the 31st of August, with rotating schedule. The students are said to attend school for synchronous work twice a week, and then do their asynchronous tasks for the remaining three days.
What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!
True Activist / Report a typo
