Last Thursday, the Broadcast studio was a buzz, where only knowledge of the secret knock got you entrance, as Mrs. Delk’s audio/visual students filmed a promo that will be released on this Thursday, April 14th, with a premiere showing in the Commons before school.  All of the different choices in uniforms, were modeled by underclassmen.  Students changed in the nurse’s office, then ran down the hall, covering all logos and designs.

Howler News was there photographing it all.  But we can’t release any of those pictures, or publish any student quotes until after the super hush hush video release.

So get your Instagrams and Snapchats ready for Thursday, April 14th.  Westside Wear will be on display.

A Black History Month Letter to My Young Brothers and Sisters of Westside High School:

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” These words penned by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., inspire our generation to reach high and achieve more than previous generations. Dr. King knew that we could be great if we would just focus on the true meaning of education.

Today I sat in a meeting of faculty, administrators, and a few parents, to discuss the important new dress code policy that will go into effect next school year. It was a civil, but tense meeting because some attendees believed the dress code policy raises issues about “freedom of expression.”

“Freedom of expression.” Do we even know what that means?

February is Black History Month. For some of us this is important because it is a reminder of the struggles those before us had to endure in order for us to attend (and be a faculty member of) a school such as Westside. It was not so long ago that the doors of schools like Westside would have been closed to over half their student populations.  Let that sink in for a moment.

Adults who lived in this country during the 1950’s and 60’s should remember this, and today’s students should study this; but our memories are short, and our love of history — clearly non-existent. Our priorities now reflect our selective memories and short attention spans. We want our “freedom of expression” but do not want to remember the sacrifices made, and that must be made, in order to fully enjoy what “freedom” really means.

True story:

A parent at today’s meeting said that his children had a choice to go to three schools – Westside and two others. Was the deciding factor over which school to attend the school’s outstanding magnet programs?

No.

Was it the high quality of instruction and rigorous curriculum?

No.

What, then, tipped the scales in Westside’s direction?

No dress code. No uniform.

“Freedom of expression.”

Dr. King must be rolling in his grave.

There was a time not so long ago when receiving a high quality education was the be-all, end-all. It was seen as the key to opening doors, and leveling the playing field so that we could be players in the game. It was about taking care of educational business and achieving the “intelligence plus character” that Dr. King described.

Today, “education” is about being able to wear whatever you want, however you want, whenever you want, and being educated is, oh-by-the-way, an afterthought.

The argument raised against uniforms is that personal “freedom of expression” is being infringed upon. I say that writing a good essay, poem, or song; playing great music; creating a beautiful piece of art; dancing; performing in the theatre, being a great athlete, or orator; creating a mouth-watering dish; attempting to preserve our environment; and treating others with kindness and generosity are the true forms of self-expression. When did our wardrobe become more important than these noble undertakings, or become the deal-breaker for determining where we should receive an education? Have we really been reduced to this?

Yet here we are. The world and Westside have changed because there are those who do not understand the meaning of “freedom.” The “freedoms” once taken for granted are being whittled away every time a student lets someone in a door that was supposed to be locked. When a student refuses to wear his or her ID (or even show it). Or, when a student uses someone else’s ID and tries to pass it off as his or her own. “Freedom” comes with responsibility and when we act irresponsibly those freedoms are lost and we all suffer.

So what are you going to do? Are you going to be outraged and fight for your wardrobe, or are you going to come to school to become a person of intelligence and character even though possibly inconvenienced just a bit by having to wear a blue shirt?

It’s Black History Month. Choose wisely.

Tarah Moser, Graduation Coach/Teacher

Ms. Moser holds a BA from Howard University, and an MA from Louisiana Baptist University.  She has been teaching for 15 years in the subjects of English and Communications.  Currently, she is directing students into their futures as Westside High School’s Graduation Coach.  She loves to read and write, and to see her students excel and reach heights they never thought they could reach!

We will keep our readers informed with up to date details.  When we know, you will know.

Principal Stewart began with the same Power Point presentation that was shown during the previous  Community Forum meeting.  She again made note of the challenges that are faced in  keeping Westside a safe and secure campus.  With 72 doors, 42 acres and only 2 security guards, monitoring is constantly being updated.  The building now has comprehensive camera coverage, anyone coming in the building must be buzzed in, this includes teachers, parents, and students alike.

The next step in this direction of safety and security will be student uniforms.  Principal Stewart introduced that the Westside SDMC, with a 13 – 2 margin voted in favor of requiring a student uniform of dress for all students next year.  She then indicated that while it was their vote, she agreed with their recommendation.  She did however acknowledge that “In retrospect, we should have had meetings to allow people to weigh in.”

A design team of  both pro and con participants will be convening soon.  Student leaders will be asked to participate, as well as students who are distinctly against the concept of unified dress requirements. Principal Stewart made it clear that the uniform would not be a fund raiser for the school or PTO, that items will be available at cost, and keeping the cost down is a priority.

The SDMC was asked to come forward, teachers in the room were introduced, and the subject was then opened for discussion.

The first parent to speak indicated that if security was an issue, the solution should be to hire more security personal.  He was adamant that having students in uniforms was not the answer to a campus security issue. Mrs. Stewart’s response was to restate again that the safety of the students comes first, and that even with more security personnel, and supervision, its impossible to be everywhere.

The room was growing more tense, parents were becoming less responsive to any comment being made.  “If its already decided, then why are we here?” “Why are we even discussing this?” “Waste of time.”

There were parents who spoke to the positive.  They felt that a uniform would level the playing field, and create a balanced atmosphere.  But the most vocal participants in the gathered audience were not in favor of this change.  Former Westside Principal,  Paul Castro, was emphatic “When I think about the kids, we aren’t engaging the kids in this enough.  It is too soon to raise this flag!”.   He then took own his kids and left.  Upping the tension in the room to a full 10.

Junior Raven Dugas spoke, as did freshman Mallori Sims.  Both were proud to be students at Westside, and both felt the need for student input.  They made good points about students having a voice. Neither made their preferences clear, but they absolutely made clear their desire to be a part of the process.  Mrs. Stewart agreed and thanked them for their involvement and passion.  She then reiterated that students would be involved in the decisions about what the uniform will be.

Associate Principal Barbara Neal, and Westside’s  Financial Manager Leah Blackwell turned the tables a bit and informed the parents that this issue has as much to do with our student population’s lack of consistency in following the current dress code. “You have no idea, unless you are here, what we go through everyday”.  They were bold, and made strong points that did get the attention of everybody in the room.

All present members of the SDMC spoke, all to the favor of uniforms.  They had different reasons, each bringing a new slant to the security conversation.

The meeting adjourned after only an hour.  But it was a long hour.

Before the meeting took place the audience found out that Westside, a school without uniforms, was a gold school that was considered higher than two other non-uniform schools; Stratford and Bellaire. The forum wasn’t only about the uniforms but this topic did take up 50% of the meeting and the only topic which questions were asked about. The first 3 topics were still important. The audience learned about what power up was and how to apply for AP tests and how HISD is offering mock tests and study days for the upcoming tests. The third topic could be considered the transition to the controversial topic of uniforms. It was describing the capacity of Westside and the amount of people working to protect the school.

When the final topic arrived the audience was on edge and a little confused. The first thing the audience was informed about was that uniforms weren’t a topic to be debated unless it is about what they would look like. After this statement Mrs. Stewart was bombarded with questions and facts that contradicted some of the slides that were shown during the meeting. Questions ranged from “how will you provide to the 54.2% of the school that is economically disadvantaged” to “why did parents have no say” a lot of these were left unanswered. 30 minute before the meeting was supposed to end Mrs. Stewart ended the meeting while hands where still in the air.

Our principal met with staff members to discuss the idea of uniforms. If other opinions matter as much then they should be asked to people who are going to answer truthfully. Not to someone who will respond with fear just so they can agree with the upper person, and not put their jobs in risk. When asked for opinions, school staff shouldn’t survey where students can only speak what’s written there or have a limit of what one can say in a text box.

Uniforms certainly do not boost spirit; In other words it decreases it. Everyone would be wearing the same thing and the only thing representing Westside is the logo on a shirt. Students wouldn’t be able to wear or customize shirts from a sport, extracurricular, or club. With uniforms, students wouldn’t able to show something they are proud of being in. Students don’t sit at a table to talk about what brand or types of clothes that others are wearing. Students choose their friends by who they are, not by the type of clothes they wear. Students should be able to come to school feeling comfortable and feeling good about themselves, as if school wasn’t already pressuring enough. “I want to come to school comfortable in my own leggings”, stated Jaelyn Stewart, Westside HS student. Putting permanent uniforms would lower the school spirit and will be more irritating for students that come to school.

Safety is one of the main focuses in the Westside dress code. It is the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk of injury. Uniforms do not make students feel protected because if danger was to come to this school, it wouldn’t be caused by an exposed shoulder or ripped jeans. The staff claims for the student dress code to be for their safety, but most of the dress code is towards exposing skin, and mainly towards girls. People say uniforms would decrease the peer pressure into buying brand” clothes, but students would always find something to bully someone about. Uniforms or no uniforms, peer pressure would not change and neither would safety.

As we know, there has been a large amount of students getting punishments because they’re out of dress code. Punishments such as going to the dean’s office and ISS (In School Suspension) wastes student’s time from academic learning. More than half of the students that get called out are girls because the dress code is concentrated more on girls showing skin than guys. “I shouldn’t be kicked out of class from learning because of my body being shown.” said Jaelyn Stewart. The dress code mostly has rules limiting how much skin a student shows.

If uniforms were brought into Westside, it would be a huge problem. Not only would students rebel, complain, but they also wouldn’t feel comfortable or be able to express themselves. Staff think uniforms are a great idea, but since uniforms are mostly concentrated on students, students’ opinions matter too.

All of you have likely visited your HUB pages by now and have seen the survey that we’ve been asked to complete regarding the dress code. In the 2016-2017 school year, Westside High School may very well be a uniform campus, meaning every student will have to wear a specific uniform to school every day. Our school administration has been going back and forth between being a uniform campus for a few years now, and if this survey indicates anything, we’re more than likely going to be wearing uniforms next year.

There are many interesting points regarding dress code, including subjugating boys and girls according to what their wearing. A very popular argument is that women are targeted more than men by dress codes: “They expect more from girls because girls can’t show shoulders and can’t wear leggings but guys can wear basically anything and they still don’t get in trouble,” said Raul Leal, a freshman. Sarah Hudson, a sophomore, made a similar statement: “I believe that the current dress code is neither too strict or not strict enough because the things that some people may see as not needed are actually necessary. I think that girls have it harder with dress codes because it is statistically proven that girls are more likely to be dress coded. Girls also have strict rules over how long a skirt must be and it can be hard to find a skirt that fits the criteria.” On the opposite end of the spectrum, some men find themselves wronged by the current dress code as well. “School dress code is too strict because guys can not wear short sleeve shirts. Guys have it harder for dress code because we cannot wear sleeveless shirts, but girls can,”said Chance Campbell, a junior. A more neutral response, given by junior Elizabeth George, breaches on the important points from each argument: “It evens out. Guys are permitted to wear dry fit shirts while girls can’t wear yoga pants, but girls can wear cheer-leading uniforms while guys obviously don’t have that option.”

The next, and more likely reason for dress code, is regarding safety. We asked some students if they felt a uniform would help with campus security. “A uniform won’t do anything for safety; they’re just clothes. If an intruder really wants to they can somehow get a uniform,” said sophomore Madison Kerley. This is true, and the same argument can be said for ID’s. however, by placing a uniform, it would be easier to weed out those who are trying to trespass. A perspective from a member of alumni helps to clearly see the situation, when asked, “Do you think a uniform will keep our campus safe?”, “It probably would.” says Nicholas Saldivia. This simple answer leaves room for questioning. After much protest to the physical uniform, the former Westside student still believes the uniform would make our school safer, and it’s not an unpopular opinion either. With threats to the school looming in the back of faculty, as well as students  minds, and heightened security implementation on campus, it’s no shock that a uniform would befit the current situation. A parent’s input also plays a role, in the pragmatics of the scenario, “ I have a mixed opinion on it. I do agree that it keeps the school and students safe since people would be able to recognize students from Westside. However, I don’t like the idea of having to pay money for a uniform when students like seniors are only going to be having it for one year. This is a waste of money since obviously seniors won’t need it anymore once they graduate,” said the mother of Blake Gomez, one of our reporters. The class of 2017 also has some notable protest: “It’s my senior year next year so no ma’am I do not want to purchase a uniform to use for one year,” said Elizabeth George.

So the results are in: the majority of students, unsurprisingly, do not favor a uniform. Regardless of the fact that they may increase campus security, uniforms are too oppressive of individual style in students. Elizabeth George brought up an interesting point when she commented that making Westside a uniform campus is a bad attempt to please administration, and uniforms can only go so far to do this.

Picture this, you’re on your way to your 4^th period class, and you get called over by a dean. Bam! There goes your class time, because now you’re on your way to the attendance office to call your parents, to bring you a pair of “Professional” pants. Now as you’re calling, you’re thinking, “Why didn’t they see that guy next to you with his pants sagging to his knees?” Now you’re questioning one of the most heated topics, to the dress code; which is, “Is dress code sexist?” Did you know that 4 out 5 girls are more likely to get called out of dress code then 1 out of every 5 guys?

Out of the past few years I have been at Westside, I have noticed repetitive dress code violations to girls then to guys. We as Girls have been hounded down to the wire on what “exactly” is allowed to be worn by girls, then by guys. A student at Westside High school, was reported how she got called out once for a minor tear underneath the knee on a pair of jeans, by our principle, Ms. Stewart. I mean, “It’s not our responsibility to make sure boys aren’t distracted. Boys develop at a slower rate mentally then girls do, which is a known fact.” At Westside, some students dislike the fact that there has been a thought of Westside dress code changing. The fact is they don’t want uniforms to change, for the fact they like having the opportunity to express their personalities. Westside recently put out a student and teacher survey, in which they gathered input from the Westside Community. Some of the statements included, “School uniforms would help instill a climate of academic excellence at Westside High School and School uniforms would help reduce social anxiety for some students, because they would decrease the focus on brand-name clothing as it relates to social status.” Which most students responded by saying that they strongly disagreed or disagreed.

However, we did interview some upper Westside staff, such as Dean Disch and Ms. Julianne Kasper, about dress code. Both of them believe that there are good and bad benefit to having uniform. For one it can be seen as “gender neutral” because no one will stand out. So we went on to asking the question, “Do you think it would be easier if we were to wear uniforms or to stay how it is without uniforms?” Well Ms.Kasper believes that the good part of having uniforms would be that it would be easier to control. While the other part of having uniforms would be, that it might harder for those students less fortunate dealing with money issues. On the hand Dean Disch views uniform as a “Benefit.” Another question that was asked of Ms. Kasper was, “Why do you think guy don’t get called out on their sagging pants?” Her response was, “We live in a sexist world” she also responded with the same answer when we asked her “What do you feel towards how broad the guy’s dress code is to how detailed the girl’s dress code is listed?” Ms. Kasper replied, “I believe there is much more attention to the girls dress code, it goes back to being sexist.” To wrap up the detailed interview, we asked her this last question which was, “What can ripped jeans as a style cause to the learning of the environment, if they are rarely going to be seen?” Ms.Kasper responded by saying, “For me it depends on where the holes are. I feel a lot of teachers have the same thought when it comes to, allowing it only through certain conditions.”

Our conclusion would be that dress code is sexist, but it doesn’t have to be. Uniforms are an option, but they’re not the only option, to making the school “less sexist and more equal.” Not just for Westside, and todays’ generation, but for future generations. I mean; why should young girls have to grow up, being told that the shirt they wear is “too tight” or that their shorts are “too short.” Next thing you know, they’re going to be told that their eyes are “Too distracting.” Why, is a question that should never come out of anyone’s mouth when dealing with something as childish as, “Dress Code.” I mean “It’s just clothes, don’t forget that.”