OSHAWA, Ont. – The steadily rising hemlines of students’ kilts was on the agenda of a Catholic school board east of Toronto on Monday.
Trustees of the Catholic District School Board in Durham Region were to discuss whether to eliminate the kilts as part of the school uniform. The final decision would be left to parents at each of the seven high schools.
The motion was put forward by trustee Chris Leahy, who said he has been hearing complaints for a while now about too-short kilts on some of the girls.
“What’s the benefit of the kilt?” he asked Monday.
“We see young girls walking around…sometimes they’re pretty short and what is that message and what’s that brand image they’re giving to other people of the community?”
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While he likes the idea of keeping traditions and uniforms in general, Leahy said the kilts have become an issue with girls rolling them down from the waist to make them shorter.
Besides, he said, schools have been spending too much time trying to enforce the length of kilts when they could be focusing on education.
There are about 4,500 female students who would be affected by a ban on kilts. The Grade 9 -to-12 girls would instead wear pants, or shorts in the summer.
Some of them took to Twitter to complain about the move.
“If they ban the kilt then they can give me the money back that I spent on it,” tweeted _IAmTheTruth.
The board has suggested that any ban be phased in, starting with the upcoming Grade 9 class, or having a one-year transition period.
So far, the response from the community has been strongly in favour of banning kilts, Leahy said.
“The vast majority of parents, teachers, people (in) the community… they are all for getting rid of the kilts,” he said, adding he’s not surprised many of the students themselves are against it.
Other Catholic boards, including those in Toronto, Halton, Peterborough and Clarington, have taken measures to give schools the power to ban kilts.
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