School beanie discussion in pipeline

Central Southland College will have ‘‘discussions’’ about considering adding beanies to the school uniform attire, the Board of Trustees chairman says.

Parent Daniel Mclean criticised the school this week because his daughter was not allowed to wear a beanie at the school on frosty mornings.

School principal Grant Dick said he was adhering to the school’s uniform policy which was set by the board of trustees.

The vast majority of voters in an informal Facebook poll believe the students should be allowed to wear beanies at the school.

The question was asked: Should Central Southland College students be allowed to wear a beanie with their school uniform during winter?

As of 4pm yesterday, 1300 voters said yes and 113 said no.

Central Southland College Board of Trustees chairman Steve Dobson indicated the matter would be explored further before any final decisions were made. The board’s student rep may be asked to gauge the thoughts of the student body, he said.

‘‘I will have conversations with the principal next week and we will go from there.’’

However, Dobson said about eight of 570 students wore beanies to the school during its mufti day, when they could wear what they want, yesterday, when it was -4 degrees.

‘‘If there was ever going to be evidence of a change of policy today would have been that day.’’

The parent who started the public debate, Daniel Mclean, said it was good the school was looking into the issue of students being allowed to wear beanies.

The school needed to ‘‘hurry up and get it done’’ before the winter was over, he said.

The school principal Grant Dick said yesterday that he believed the school community liked the school to have rules and stick by them.

‘‘Some will say loosen up and lighten up, but I believe the school community likes us to take a bottom line on things and stick to it.’’