teens

BANNED

A look at why some seemingly innocent items are banned at schools. BY ANDREA STETSON

More than 65 comments quickly accumulated on a Facebook post when one angry mom wrote about her frustration about the banning of hair scrunchies at her daughter’s middle school in Lee County. Others responded about bans on water bottles and other seemingly innocuous items. Sure, everyone knows that weapons are banned at schools and that dress codes ban things such as spaghetti strap tops or too short shorts. But schools in both Lee and Collier counties also ban items that become a distraction or a safety hazard that surprise some parents.

In some Lee County public schools, only disposable, clear plastic water bottles are allowed. In some Collier County public schools only hard-sided, reusable water bottles are permitted. These are totally different rules for totally different reasons.

“Some middle schools have had to prohibit the plastic, oneuse water bottles. So instead the kids can bring in their own refillable water bottles. It is mostly at the middle school level,” says Rachel Dawes, director of student relations for Collier County Public Schools.

The reason is students were squeezing and playing with the bottles, making crunching noises that distracted lessons. At one time some students punched holes in the cap and squeezed the bottles, squirting water at each other. Those distractions prompted the ban.

In Lee County, school officials wanted the clear plastic bottles, so they could better see and monitor the liquid inside to make sure it really is water.

“They just prefer clear water bottles to be able to quickly examine what is in it — just line of sight,” says Rob Spicker, assistant director of media relations and public information for Lee County Public Schools. “They are actually sold at school.”

Hair scrunchies seem like an innocent thing to ban. Rob says girls can still wear them in a ponytail on the back of their heads, but students can’t use them for anything else. He explains years ago a girl used a scrunchie to create a mohawk on the top of her head. That was the original start to the ban.

“They can’t wear them on their arms,” Rob says. “At the time, it signified boyfriend and girlfriend. It was used to match up couples in class based on their scrunchies. That’s middle school for you.”

More recently scrunchies in middle school have become a symbol for VSCO girls (pronounced “visco”). VSCO girls are a subculture among teenagers that follow certain fashion choices. The girls wore numerous hair scrunchies up their arms as part of this trend.

“There are trends that come and go and just keeping the policies in place keeps it from becoming a distraction,” Rob says.

Colored hair is also banned at many schools in Lee County.

“Hair coloring or style that may cause a substantial disruption is prohibited,” Rob says. “It is all about the disruption. If somebody’s dyed-red hair is more talked about than math, then the red hair would not be allowed. These things are usually at the discretion of the principal.”

Rachel agreed that items are banned in Collier County schools when they become distracting.

“For example, years ago when fidget spinners came out, some elementary schools had to prohibit those because obviously you have to have a way to stop the distraction,” she says. “Any kind of trending thing, if it does become a distraction, principals will look at it on a case-by-case basis.”

The latest item added to the list of prohibited things?

“We added in Hoverboards,” Rachel says. “They cannot be operated on school grounds. That is a safety issue. We wanted to prevent any possible injury.”