Zero tolerance for the sweet stuff at a Cape Cod (MA) high school:
A Cape Cod high school may soon be the first in the state free of all colognes, perfumes, scented deodorants and body sprays. The Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School committee met Monday night to discuss the fragrance ban for staff and students proposed by Superintendent Barry J. Motta.The proposed policy will be sent to a subcommittee for review, Motta said, and will likely become part of the student handbook.
Strong fragrances can irritate people with asthma, trigger headaches, and cause respiratory and neurological symptoms. Motta said he did not know about the possible effects of perfumes and colognes until one of his staff members said they suffered from chemical sensitivity.
Leaving aside the fact that some teenagers do seem to bathe in Axe and White Rain, emitting toxic fragrance waves to the point where local TV reception is disturbed, I think a ban is a ridiculous idea. For one thing, zero tolerance policies are problematic enough when limited to drugs. How can this possibly be enforced? What teacher wants to be the one sniffing under arms each day? How are they going to prove who has on perfume, and what the penalties should be? Will it be detention or sponge baths for the smelly little delinquents?
Also, while asthma and allergies are no joke, "chemical sensitivity" problems have no unified underlying syndrome or triggers, and are thought by many to be of psychosomatic origin. Why should it be considered a "not overboard" response for all student to have to replace all their toiletries, or give them up altogether, because one staff member - who has presumably chosen to work among hundreds of kids - is making this claim?
Posted by kswygert at March 7, 2006 05:33 PM