November 11 2016

Angie Murphy, Principal of RHS

Dear Angie Murphy,

Sitting down to type these words feels more like a persuasive essay for the FCAT
that I'd need to write in the fifth grade. There are many points to make, the
amount of issues affecting the student body would prove to be innumerable,
however to list a few; favoritism, self-expression both non-verbal and verbal,
disruption of class time, Inconvenienced parents, nuances of the dress code and
violations not listed in the text of the modified dress code. These claims all have
their own merit, whether it be from students, parents or staff. We will break this
down from the bottom up, starting at the root and going into the finer details.
We'll begin in June 2016, when a survey was put online for parents to fill out
declaring their stance or preferences on the concept of the Ridgewood High
School modified dress code, across social media the concept of the dress code
was met with uncomparable backlash, interesting enough, the results of this
survey never came back to the surface for Ridgewood parents to observe or
review, the popular belief is that the results came back overwhelmingly negative,
as it is true and accepted that a majority, or more than likely a SUPERMAJORITY
of parents and students were and still are in disagreeance over implementing the
dress code. This event then implicates the question of why a survey was put on
the school's website if it was to not be considered and shoved under the rug as
you crossed your fingers and hoped that the parents would forget, I don't believe
they have.
If the dress code is not nullified, and is continued to be enforced in the way that it
is, learning will slow to a crawl. I understand your reasons behind implementing
this dress code, you speak of changing Ridgewood's culture and grades, the idea
of this working is weakly supported on the end of the administration. On the FAQ
page for the dress code, there is research cited of schools fully implementing
uniforms, not a modified dress code where you purchase the clothes yourself or
have them handed to you by the school. There is a key difference between
what's done here and COMPLETELY providing one uniform for every student.
The research cited is irrelevant to the modified dress code.
Is one student's education worth the logo on their shirt? or the style of their

shorts? Forget the dozens, maybe hundred or more students who have been
inconvenienced by this, imagine just one, is that worth it to you? Because
personally myself, I had to miss about 20-25 minutes of an AP class this
Tuesday, now... what happens when say, a hurricane strikes Florida. we take the
precaution to go home, and then later on we worry about the makeup day,
because it is said by law that we need a certain amount of education time in our
classes, such a thing doesn't exist on the smaller level. If you leave class, that is
instruction time you are NEVER getting back.
Any student's reason for sitting in a classroom in a public school is to receive a
free public education (As in no direct cost), that is guaranteed to us because our
parents/guardians are tax paying contributers to society, the method of sitting
down and shutting up is not appropriate in this situation or anywhere near what
the school should be trying to do, molding students into young men and women
by taking advantage of the greatest teachable moment in Ridgewood's nearly 40
years of existence, this is an opportunity to teach democracy, equity and fairness,
and it's not too late to do this. The modified dress code was an attempt to take
the focus off of fashion, and now what's happened is there's more focus on
fashion at Ridgewood than ever before. Education is halting, but it's not too late
to turn it back around on the right track, this was supposed to be a pilot year for
this program, a test of sorts, well the results are in. We need not suffer through
the rest of this experiment, please repeal this dress code.

Sincerely,
Hunter Adam Banaciski