Twenty-five Rye Middle School students together with first-year club coordinator Francesca Miller are working enthusiastically on a range of issues important to their adolescent peers. One of the most pressing concerns: convincing Dr. Anne Edwards to “cool it” on the shorts front and change the dress code.
By Sarah Varney
Twenty-five Rye Middle School students together with first-year club coordinator Francesca Miller are working enthusiastically on a range of issues important to their adolescent peers. One of the most pressing concerns: convincing Dr. Anne Edwards to “cool it” on the shorts front and change the dress code.
“This year’s group has a great mix of students from all three grades,” said Miller. There are eight to ten sixth graders, five seventh graders and ten eight graders. “The six graders, especially, have an incredible amount of energy,” she noted. The upcoming election has also spurred interest.
In addition to the dress code issue, the group is working on a new fall field day that’s set for November 2. “Field day is fun because you work with people you don’t know and it would be good to have one closer to the start of school so you can meet people,” said Gregor Sandford. The eighth grader is also researching different games so that fall field day and spring field day aren’t too much alike.
The student government group is also planning a November 5 mock election for eighth graders and will also be stationed outside local polling places the next day asking follow-up questions of voters as they exit. Before organizing the post-poll activity they contacted the Westchester Board of Elections to get the okay. The group will compile the results to questions such as “when did you decide who to vote for?” and publish them in the RMS school newspaper.
Elections are all fine and good, but for girls it’s all about the dress code. Ask any female middle schooler about the divisive ‘shorts’ issue and you’re likely to get an earful. The current dress code calls for shorts no more than four inches above the knee.
The current solution for some girls is to wear short shorts with Spandex knee-length leggings underneath. This solution isn’t much good because Spandex gets hot. “It’s very hard to concentrate when it’s hot in the classroom especially in the spring,” said Co-President Caroline Dailey.
The consensus among middle school girls is that it’s also hard to find shorts that meet the current length rule that aren’t, well, just plain dorky.
RMS Principal Dr. Edwards is the chief dress code enforcer and she’s the one who asked the student government group to take a look at the code to see if an update is in order.
“We want to give a well-researched and well-thought out report on this issue,” said Dailey. The committee will present its report to the School Board in December.
