The World of Haves and Have-Nots

Does she or doesn’t he?
School leaders told Kentucky’s Greenwood High School student Olivia Shutman that all girls chosen for homecoming court have to wear a dress. Shutman doesn’t like or wear dresses and stated she would rather wear a nice pantsuit. The school responded by barring Shutman from homecoming court. A student protest of the three-year-old dress code is planned on Shutman’s behalf.
Meanwhile, a male student can wear a skirt, kilt, or dress to Hasbrouck Heights School in New Jersey now that the American Civil Liberties Union has reached an agreement with school officials. Seventeen-year-old Michael Coviello said the school policy that banned shorts but allowed skirts from October 1st to April 15th was discriminatory. Coviello initially protested by wearing a skirt to classes but was sent home by the principal. He’s glad to be able to wear a skirt again in an effort to draw attention to a policy he says makes no sense.
Perhaps a Kentucky-New Jersey student exchange program is in order.

From the “Crime is relative” file:
The Federal Trade Commission once again reports identity theft is the leading consumer complaint. The FTC says last year’s 685,000 complaints generated $680 million in losses. Even children are not safe. Over eleven thousand complaints were filed on behalf of those under the age of 18.
Meanwhile, President Bush traveled from Kansas to Maryland this week discussing his warrantless domestic spying program. Bush told reporters, “We’ve seen that part of the terrorist strategy is to place operatives inside of our country. They blend in with the civilian population. They get their orders from overseas and then they emerge to strike from within.”
Maybe Bush could win over more support by replacing “terrorist” with “identity thief.”

Up north, Fairbanks, Alaska Yukon-Koyukuk School District’s attempts to keep its schools heated are nothing to freeze at. Having started out with $226,460 to spend on heating for the year, the district exceeded the budget by over $60,000 and spent $80,000 set aside for emergency maintenance without making it through the month of December. Yukon-Koyukuk’s Superintendent Chris Simon says, “Dire times call for dire measures.” Indeed. Measures already taken and proposed include a spending and hiring freeze, cutting in-service days, taking six of the districts nine printers offline, limiting travel, and cutting back on maintenance and supplies. Having already teamed with the Tanana Chiefs Conference’s elder meal program two years ago to abate costs, the district isn’t looking to cut any more of the school lunch program. Only with the Conference’s partnership has the school been able to keep serving three hot school meals a week of the five it used to serve.

Finally, moving south, a pioneering effort to improve child protection and school safety is now under way in New Jersey’s Freehold Borough School District. The district now boasts a $369,000 “iris recognition security and visitor management system”, funded by a grant from the Department of Justice. When picking a child up from school, an adult must provide a driver’s license and submit to an eye scan. Once the system has recognized the adult’s eye, the school door opens and monitors how many adults enter. Superintendent Phil Meara says, “Biometrics is the wave of the future.”

Heat, schmeat.
Looks like the eyes have it.
Edited: [GH]