Flip flops are once again on the list of acceptable attire for Seymour High School students.
The Board of Education Monday voted to allow high school students to wear the popular shoes, but kept the ban in place for middle and elementary school students, as well as staff members.
The board’s action came after students submitted a petition with more than 500 signatures of students asking the board to allow them to wear flip flops and backless shoes.
“I think it is important that we listen to what they say,” said board member Fred Stanek, especially since administrators could not single out an incident where a student fell or was injured because of the shoes.
Parents have reported that administrators are at the doors monitoring student’s footwear as they enter, Stanek said, and administrators have said they “don’t want to deal with the issue.”
“There are more important issues to deal with than footwear,” Stanek said.
But some board members, including Jeanne Loda, felt the shoes could lead to student injuries.
“It’s a safety issue,” Loda said.
Like it or not, flip flops are the shoe of choice for teens, said board member John Putorti, who said his two teens wear them “90 percent of the time.”
And banning them because they’re seen as a safety hazard isn’t reasonable, he said. Kids that age are going to trip and fall occasionally, flip flops or no flip flops.
And the shoes are very popular with student athletes who wear them to games because they’re easy to change, board chairman Ed Strumello said. Banning them at school wouldn’t stop athletes from wearing them to games, he said, so it would create a double standard.
Dress codes can often get out of control, said Strumello, who for years was a teacher and administrator in the Ansonia school district.
“In Ansonia when I was an educator, I was suspending children for wearing blue jeans to school,” he said. “I think sometimes we can make stupid policies.”
Board member Bruce Baker said he didn’t think the subject warranted the attention it has received from the board.
“We have spent more time talking about flip flops than we have about reading assistants,” he said. “I think we have to look at our priorities.”
