Man Slammed for Waiting Outside School to Point Out Student Dress Code Violations: ‘Witch-Hunter’
Students in Chardon, Ohio, are up in arms after a school board member took it upon himself to wait on a street corner near school to personally monitor students' outfits.
Todd Albright, who was elected to his post last year, has been accused of going "above and beyond" his duties by watching middle and high school students and pointing out potential dress code violations as they walk to and from school.
On Facebook, parent Sara Kock Haueter blasted Albright, calling his actions "not in the interest of our children, but in the interest of his own personal beliefs on morality."
"From his voyeur corner [off school property], he proceeded to point out which girls he felt were inappropriately dressed. Although I do not have daughters, I am a woman who was once a teenage girl. I know how I would feel having a strange man watching me from the street corner as I walked home and point out to my principal that he thought my clothing choice was inappropriate... I do not vote for a school board member to act as a witch-hunter running around painting scarlet letters on my children," she wrote.
See her full post below:
According to WKYC, one Chardon student is planning a protest in response to Albright.
"My sister's in the middle school, I know some of her friends have come home complaining to their parents like 'this guy, he pointed us out, he was seriously on the street corner and it was like scary.' They were intimidated. This protest is just to say we are comfortable in our clothing, no one is complaining about it but you. You are making us more uncomfortable than we can be making anyone through our clothing," Devney Rich said.
According to Cleveland Scene, Albright initially reported his concerns regarding students' clothing to superintendent Dr. Michael Hanlon and the principals of both Chardon High School and Chardon Middle School. He invited them to join him on the corner between both schools to witness firsthand the perceived dress code violations on Aug. 31.
In email correspondence with Cleveland Scene, Albright claimed he was following "chain of command protocol" by communicating his concerns to the superintendent.
"Because the concerns of the community brought to the superintendent's attention tend to result in either inaction or denial of the claim, I decided on this issue to invite the principals of the buildings in question and the superintendent to meet me in a very public location on a sunny day, with dozens of witnesses of multiple ages, to view what the community perceives as acceptable dress code," Albright claimed, according to the publication.
"During the meeting I spoke to the principals about school issues, including the superintendent's vision for the school and how he intends to achieve it, and the high school principal's perception of issues. He expressed that he’s fixated on hoodies and hats, and although he is aware of other issues he is making efforts in this area," he continued.
Albright claimed that during the 15-minute period, "administrators and the superintendent made small talk with the students, none of which was inappropriate as far as I could tell."
"That was the extent of the event and I want to reiterate that my intentions were not a self driven witch hunt, but community driven, and nothing more," he said.