MOHAWK SCHOOLS Dress code pleases educators

Nonteaching employees were given pay increases of about 10 percent over three years.
By LAURA MILOSER
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BESSEMER, Pa. -- The Mohawk Area School District's new dress code is a success, according to school officials.
High school Principal Raymond Omar said Monday that last year the high school had four suspensions by mid-September. This year the district has not seen any. "I think the apparel policy has had a decisive factor," Omar said at the monthly school board meeting.
The dress code policy allows no sleeveless shirts; jeans can have only four pockets, no carpenter or cargo pants; all shirts must be tucked in; V-neck shirts must have a shell or T-shirt underneath if the V is lower than the pupil's collar bone; and no writing is permitted on shirts except for small logos.
Superintendent Dr. Timothy McNamee said: "We're seeing real good results, students look nice and act nice. We're real happy." He said that local convenience store employees have commented that the pupils are even acting better in their stores.
Parent Gary Reese asked the board why shirts must be solid. He told the board that his son is on the golf team and he had bought striped golf shirts.
McNamee stated that solid shirts made it easier to be consistent in the guidelines.
Contract approved
In other business, the board unanimously approved a three-year contract with the district's support staff.
The contract, which is retroactive to June 30, 2005, will give support staff employees, which includes secretaries, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians, an average wage increase of 3.56 percent the first year, 3.33 percent the second year and 3.13 percent the third year of the contract.
The district entered into a contract with Firth Consulting of Pittsburgh for computer technical services. McNamee said the fee for services is $80 an hour.