Pubdate: Fri, 12 Feb 2016
Source: Niagara Falls Review, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Niagara Falls Review
Contact: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/letters
Website: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2907
Author: Ray Spiteri
Page: A1

WEED SOCKS CAUSE STINK

They are known as weed socks.

To 13-year-old Bethany Aello, they are just the latest cool and trendy
piece of clothing that all her friends are wearing.

But apparently they are not appropriate to show off at Prince Philip
Public School.

The garment is officially called HUF Plantlife, but are also known as
weed socks. They come in different colours and styles, and have a
number of marijuana leaf symbols on them.

Aello's mother, Tiffany, was taken aback about what unfolded earlier
this week at the Niagara Falls elementary school.

Tiffany said her daughter was asked by the vice principal to take the
socks off at school.

She said the vice principal called to tell her of the
situation.

"I said, 'may I ask why?' And she said, 'because I find them offensive
and so do the students in the class,'" said Tiffany.

"I said, 'pardon me. First of all, how dare you take my child's socks
off. It's winter and she was wearing boots and she didn't have another
pair.'"

The socks Bethany wore was grey, with black marijuana leaf
symbols.

Tiffany described them as a "new fad" for teens.

She said she asked the vice principal what she found so offensive with
the socks and was told, 'they're weed socks.'

"It's just a flower, as far as I'm concerned," said Tiffany, adding
there's no words or statements on the socks. "It also doesn't say what
they call them, the weed sock. It doesn't say that."

She said the vice principal said there's a "fine line."

"I said, 'well, is my kid going around saying, oh, I'm smoking weed?'
I said, 'no, she wore the socks because she liked them, that's what
she wanted, that's what she got for her birthday. We don't condone any
of that. They're socks.'"

Prince Philip principal Lynn Tisi referred media inquiries Thursday to
the DSBN communications department.

DSBN spokesman Brett Sweeney said the incident happened Tuesday
afternoon.

He said three students approached school administration with concerns
about the socks.

Sweeney said the vice principal had a "very quiet" conversation with
the student and asked the student to either remove the socks or go to
the administration office and "work there quietly for the remainder of
the day."

He said the student decided to take the socks off. Sweeney said the
student was wearing "warm, fuzzy boots."

"It was during the last block of the day. There were no more nutrition
breaks. The student was not sent outside. The student was inside the
whole time."

Sweeney said the socks were disrupting the class, they were getting in
the way of a learning environment and made some students
uncomfortable.

Tiffany said her daughter bought the pair of socks earlier this month
when she and a friend were at the Zumiez store at the Pen Centre mall
in St. Catharines.

The store, which markets clothing for action sports and is popular
with teens, passed a reporter's questions to head office. A
representative could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Both Tiffany and Bethany said they don't smoke marijuana.

"I just felt like getting them because they look really cool," said
Bethany, adding it had nothing to do with marijuana. "I know a lot of
people (that have the socks)."

She said other kids at the school wear the socks, but they hide them
from school officials.

Bethany, a Grade 7 student, said when she wore them to school earlier
this week, they were covered by her boots.

She said school officials became aware she was wearing the socks when
her friend "was telling everyone at school."

Bethany said she wasn't embarrassed by the situation, but was "a
little" upset "because my feet were really cold."

Tiffany said the vice principal called her later that evening and told
her Bethany can wear the socks, as long as they're not shown and she
doesn't bring attention to them.

"She should be allowed to wear what she wants. It's good for me to
make that judgment, not someone else," said Tiffany. "She's not in a
Catholic school that requires that special uniform."

According to the District School Board of Niagara's website, each
school has a policy regarding what is and is not appropriate to wear
to school.

According to Prince Philip's dress code, "=C2=85 shirts with questionable

messages are not appropriate for school." It also states, "Staff
reserves the right to request a student change their attire if the
clothing is deemed to be inappropriate for school."

Some public schools are more specific in their dress
code.

For example, Ontario Public School in Thorold explicitly states,
"Clothing which advertises or promotes alcoholic beverages, drugs,
violence or racism or that displays obscene, distasteful or hurtful
messages is not to be worn at school, on field trips, or
activities."

Sweeney said while each school is responsible for setting their own
dress code, the "general principle" is that clothing "should be
appropriate for a school environment and a learning
environment."

Sweeney said they identify "things such as alcohol or drugs" as not
appropriate for students to have at school, therefore it's "similarly
inappropriate" to have clothing that "promotes or references" them.

He said the student was not suspended or disciplined "in any
way.

"The student was very understanding and was very co-operative when
spoken to by the vice principal."

Sweeney said DSBN schools are "not in the business of inspecting
attire.

"If it's not seen and not disruptive, we're not going to be searching
out and investigating."

While the federal government plans to legalize marijuana, Sweeney said
"alcohol and cigarettes are legal, but not for an elementary school
population."

Tiffany said symbols mean different things to different people,
depending on their culture and beliefs.

When asked if she can understand why the school viewed the socks as
having marijuana leaf symbols on them, Tiffany said: "That's their
judgment. They shouldn't judge. Everybody has a different judgment on
that. One of the girls said, 'Oh those are pretty flowers.' We had no
intentions of any other purposes than getting the socks for socks. We
live in 2016. It is what it is, it's socks."
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MAP posted-by: Matt