Cleveland teachers union objects to basic dress code

Cleveland teachers union objects to basic dress code
Sometimes teachers’ unions have a beef with the most trivial of issues — in Cleveland’s case, a very basic dress code which would prohibit jeans and sweatpants (except on designated days).

Seriously.

“Students in the Cleveland schools have a dress code, said [District Chief Academic Officer Michelle] Pierre-Farid, so teachers should also follow some standard.”

Pierre-Farid and other administrators have seen “teachers in T-shirts and jeans – not just on school spirit days or and not just shirts with the school name or logo.”
Some of the shirts have been inappropriate, too, such as one “with a beer can on it.”

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:

She [Pierre-Farid] has also seen teachers in short skirts and sometimes not wearing shoes, but “flip-flops” instead.

“Most of our teachers do dress professionally, so this is not an issue for them,” Pierre-Farid said. But all teachers should meet a standard, just like the students.

“To say that we will dress professionally, as well, is not too much to ask for,” she said.

CTU [Cleveland Teachers Union] President David Quolke said teachers believe in dressing professionally, but these Corrective Action Plans are not the place to do it.

He said: “There are some people, not just teachers, you want to say, ‘Aww, come on, spruce it up a bit.’ But it isn’t a pervasive problem. It’s not something that they can’t figure out on a school by school basis...”