Zombie-like faces flood the halls as Halloween approaches.

Some Students feel the need to paint themselves  as zombies or monsters for the school day; however, with the strictly enforced rules of the dress code, many students believe this is a violation of the school rules.

Multiple students at school have received jobs working at haunted houses as a great way to earn money around Halloween time. Many of these jobs include dressing up as the living-dead and doing their best to scare the paying customers. The detailed zombie costumes and elaborate face paint allow for a frightening effect, but these zombies may want to leave their scaring back at the haunted houses.

Section “K” of the student code of  conduct states that, “A student shall not dress in an obscene or suggestive manner or in any fashion that, in the judgment of the staff and/or administration, disrupts the educational process. See-through or mesh garments, midriff  blouses or shirts, tank tops, spaghetti straps, exposure of undergarments of any type, spiked jewelry, chains, cleavage, low riding pants, hats and clothing with obscene or suggestive statements or symbols are prohibited is any apparel that advertises or promotes sex, drugs or alcohol. Shoes must be worn at all times. Coats and hats should be placed in lockers and not worn/carried during the school day.”

The painting of students’ faces violates the code of conduct as it, “disrupts the educational process.” If the motive of the zombie students is to promote their haunted houses, the face painting poses as an educational distraction because the purpose of promoting something is to draw attention to it.

“I have no problem with the kids who paint their faces,” junior Katarina Odak said. “Even if it isn’t  a promotion for an event, they can do what they want. My problem is that it isn’t considered a ‘distraction to anyone’s learning’. I don’t understand how that is not a distraction, yet when I wore a strapless shirt and showed my shoulders, it apparently prohibited the learning of any male students, for which I deeply apologize.”

To think that girls wearing comfortable tank-tops hold more of a distraction than students who paint themselves as living corpses is absurd.

“I understand and agree that you shouldn’t be allowed to wear shorts that show 70% of your butt or anything ridiculous like that because we are in school and not a strip club, but some of the rules are body shaming and unfair because they ‘distract boys from their learning’,” Odak said. “All that does is preach to not be victimized instead of to not victimize. This is a far stretch from the kids painting their faces, but they shouldn’t have been allowed to ‘distract’ everyone from learning if everyone else wasn’t allowed to either. Besides, my strapless shirt didn’t make one of my teachers stop teaching multiple times because they lost their train of thought. The same cannot be said for the face paint.”

With the makeup covering all of their faces, some students cannot even be identified without deeper analyzation.

“I don’t see a very big difference between a student hiding their face with paint and a student hiding their face with a ski mask,” junior David Slusser said. “Both are relatively the same thing, except wearing a ski mask would be absolutely unacceptable in the school.”

The face painters claim the action to be one of advertisement for the haunted houses, but there are many other ways they could get their message across rather than being a disturbance to others throughout the day.

If students want to promote their haunted houses, then they should go about so in a way that does not disturb others from learning. If administration is going to let students completely cover their faces in makeup, in a disturbing manner, then they also need to let students wear ball caps and not be forced to wear clothes that completely cover every part their bodies.

“The fact that the majority of the people were scared and uncomfortable about the face paint probably shouldn’t be ignored either; although,  I’m no expert on what should or should not be done in the school,” Odak said. “That would fall under the rule of Mrs. Murray, and I don’t encourage nor promote any actions as a result of what I had to say, but I think it’s necessary to question authority when it deserves to be questioned.