Friday, October 24, 2008

Missouri School Board says Teachers must Hide Tattoos

This from the Joplin Globe:

School district to require employees to
cover tattoos
Joplin R-8 Board of Education members Tuesday night gave administrators the OK to change wording in the district’s employment policy to not allow any part of a tattoo to show.The policy previously instructed teachers to wear clothing that “minimizes” tattoos, but it did not prohibit part or all of the tattoo from showing.

The board also wants to make that policy apply to all district employees, not just teachers. Superintendent C.J. Huff said he brought the issue to the board because someone had raised concerns about teachers with tattoos. The board members appeared to be in unanimous agreement about tattoos not being appropriate in a professional and, specifically, a classroom setting.

“Until business and industry says that we want to hire people with tattoos, I don’t think it’s anything out of order,” Huff said of changing the policy. “It’s how we need to do business.” ...

Hat tip to the Detention slip.

1 comment:

Kayla-Noel Davis said...

I think it's a little crazy to force teachers to hide tattoos. Its very understandable that sometimes they can be a distraction to the classroom, but not in all instances. Some tattoos are extremely small and not a big deal. I had a teacher in high school that had a pattern of stars up her neck and ending behind her ear, very visible. She even had purple hair. She was a wonderful English teacher and a GREAT academic team coach. Her tattoos never once made her forget what her job and who she was there for!