Should hoods be allowed at school?

The current rule at NC does not allow students to wear any type of head covering in the building, including hoods of coats, jackets, or sweatshirts. The reasoning behind this rule is to ensure that students in classrooms and hallways can be identified. 

I think asking students to keep their hoods off in the halls makes sense in the school’s efforts to ensure student safety. However, I feel that whether or not a student has a hood on inside classrooms does not matter. 

Teachers should be able to identify the students they have in class everyday regardless of if they are wearing a hood or not. If for some reason the hood is making identifying a student difficult, they can ask the student to take off the hood until they are correctly identified. After confirming who the student is, the student should be allowed to put their hood back on. 

I feel like teachers are also worried about distractions like having earbuds in and not paying attention to the content taught in class. If your earbuds are in and your hood is up, a teacher would not be able to see.

My compromise is your hood could be up during study time or individual work time but not during instruction. This way, the teacher knows that they have the students’ full attention while they are teaching.

Having your hoodie up to some students could provide a sense of comfort and a feeling of privacy.

Especially in the colder weather, students should be able to cover their head and ears. The school building is large and classrooms are often very cold. Staying warm and comfortable is beneficial for a student in a learning environment. 

Creating a rule allowing students to have their hoodie up during classes but not during passing periods would help students and teachers to meet somewhere in the middle. 

Teachers and administration strictly enforce the no hood rules when I feel their attention should be more focused on other things when monitoring the hallways.