A rule banning hats from the Biddeford school district that stood for almost 60 years was struck down in a unanimous vote by the school board on January 26th.

Biddeford High School Principal Jeremie Sirois fought hard for the rule change to give more leeway to the individual schools when making school dress codes.

“I think it is important that as a school, we have the flexibility to make some adjustments as we see fit,” said Sirois. “The policy as it stood was very prescriptive and I needed to have it a little more broad so that we could have a little more latitude for changes.”

The hat rule was added to many school dress codes almost 50 years ago as a sign of respect from the students to the school and staff, but that standard changed over recent years.

“The rule itself was put in many schools back in the early 60s-70s, and the rule as it stood at one point was a respect type of rule,” said Sirois. “Now it’s not that our kids are disrespectful, it’s that their hats are like an accessory.”

There are still teachers, such as social studies teacher Jon Edstrom, who believe in the act of respect of removing a hat as people enter the building.

“I like the hat rule because maybe I’m old fashioned, and I think that you go into a building and you take off your hat,” said Edstrom. “At the same time, as time goes on, I’m getting less and less worried about it because of the possible changes.”

While some teachers, like Edstrom, agree with the hat rule, students ,such as junior Jordan Cook, feel strongly about wearing hats in the school building.

“I think it’s a bad idea not to allow hats, because it’s obvious that most students want the hat rule to be gone,” said Cook. “I think that a lot of students want to be able to wear hats in the school. It should be the students that get to decide on the rule.”

While the district policy removed the rule, the rule remains in effect at BHS until the school releases it’s own amended rule.

“Currently, in our school handbook we still have the hat rule,” said Sirois. “I’m going to be meeting with a group of teachers that I will talk with about language. Then I hope to meet with some student government representatives and see what their thoughts are, but nothing has been planned as of yet to change it,it just gives me the ability to change it.”

Biddeford is one of the last schools in Southern Maine to have a hat rule for its school buildings.

In the city of Biddeford, change is something that scares a lot of people, which is why Biddeford is a bit behind on making changes in the school district compared to other nearby schools.

“I don’t know that it’s taken us a long time to catch up,” said Sirois. “My former school had the hat rule for the same amount of time. I think a lot of schools are starting to come around to that and you are probably seeing a lot of schools over the last year or two make that change.”

Students may consider hats to be a big factor in their day to day school life, but teachers have reasons for wanting them banned from classrooms.

“Back when the hat rule was not really well enforced several years ago when I first started working here, kids were using it as a way to check out,” said Edstrom. “They would sit there and pull their hat down and you couldn’t see their eyes, and you couldn’t tell if they were awake, which was a problem.”

While some teachers may view hats as a problem or a distraction, Sirois doesn’t see it.

“I guess there is concern by some people, but I’m not overly concerned that a modest hat could become a distraction,” Sirois said.

Cook sees only a slight possibility of hats as a problem in the classroom.

“I think a hat becoming a distraction would only become a problem if that hat was large enough to block people, but I think they should just be asked to take it off,” said Cook. “I don’t think that a

beanie or anything like that will cause a distraction.”

When the school sets forth its official new rule, it will come after Sirois discusses with staff and students. Edstrom is hoping that with the change, teachers will be given the choice in their own classrooms.

“One of the things that we are hoping will be included in this change will be that individual teachers in their room will have the discretion to say, ‘I don’t want you to wear a hat in here,’” said Edstrom. “Hopefully that’s what it is going to be.”

Whether or not students and staff like it, the hat rule is in place until administration goes through the process of writing the new rule for the school.

“The language that the school board is working on is what the policy is, and how we put it actually for the student handbook that will probably come later,” said Edstrom. “You know they write the law, then the policy gets written out later, so the process isn’t done yet.”