Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Emmet Students Lobby To Wear Shorter Shorts

Who likes short shorts?

Apparently students in the Emmet School District.

Several students went before the Emmet School Board Monday, May 3, presenting a petition requesting the length of shorts be shortened from the current knee length level to fingertip level.

In addition, the petition requested the time students could begin wearing shorts be changed from May 1, where it currently is, to April 1, as the weather is turning warmer at this time.

High School Principal Frank Henson told the board the examples given were much too short.

Jack Faulkner said six inches above the knee would not be appropriate, but added the board will work with the teachers and principals on the issue.

Nevada County Sheriff Steve Otwell, who is also on the board, thought it strange how students want to wear short shorts to class, yet play basketball in shorts falling considerably below knee level. "It doesn't make sense," he said.

Henson said the handbook committee will meet and discuss the issue of giving leeway on the knee length level of shorts, but added six inches is too much.

Student representatives are on this committee and can give their input on the issue.

Superintendent Dr. Gene Ross said the only reason students wear shorts today is because of fashion, not comfort.

All classrooms are air conditioned and those wearing shorts get cold, he said. But the teachers must dress professionally and need the thermostats at the cooler setting.

Faulkner said fashions change and there are a lot of other schools going to uniforms. This, too, he added, could be considered.

Dr. Ross said the issue of school uniforms will have to be addressed next year, and if districts in the state don't adopt uniforms, it will be on the ballot in the year 2000.

Faulkner told the students to contact the student representatives on the handbook committee and voice their opinion.

The students voiced one final complaint to the board, this one concerning the school lunch menu. They asked to have meat loaf and turkey roast removed and are seeking an open campus as well.

Dr. Ross said the district gets federal commodities it must use, or won't get in the future. Without these commodities, he said, the price of lunches would have to be raised $1 more per week.

Jerry Simmons, with Twin River Architects of Arkadelphia, was on hand to show the board plans for the new rooms to be built. Three of the rooms, he said, can be used for classrooms, with the fourth being a multi-purpose rooms for an office or counseling.

A covered walkway will connect the classrooms with the existing building, he said, to help protect the children in times of inclement weather.

The new structure will be 35 feet from the current buildings, with all mechanical equipment to be placed on pads.

The rooms will have a pitched roof instead of a flat one, as the existing buildings have. The new building will match the roof line of the current one as well.

Dr. Ross said second and sixth grade classes will be put in these new rooms to help alleviate overcrowding in the other classrooms. There will be two second grade classes there, with one sixth grade class.

He said the district will have to get some desks and chairs for these rooms, too.

Simmons said there will be a five-foot grade change, with the ground being undercut and fill dirt put in to have the new rooms on the same level as the old building.

The new structure will have concrete block walls, carpeted rooms and a fiberglass composition roof. Lighting will be put on a photocell as well as a switch.

Each of the three classrooms will be 750 square feet and meet the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

In other business, Bill Dearinger pointed out the danger of the old incinerator, saying he has seen children playing around it. He also pointed out the fence around the tennis court is in need of repair.

Dr. Ross said the district needs to get rid of the incinerator as it is no longer in use.

He added if the fence is taken down, it will probably not be replaced. The courts, though, could still be used for basketball.