This school year, a new policy has gone into place banning sports jerseys. This was a Cypress decision, because some jerseys can be considered gang wear. 

Jennifer Brown, principal at Cypress, explained the policy. “Unfortunately, sports jerseys have been identified by multiple police departments around the state as gang attire, and so in the past, we haven’t really had to strongly enforce that here at Cypress because it was not prevalent. 
Unfortunately, we’ve had to really enforce that policy this year because last year we did have multiple situations where students who were affiliated were wearing jerseys as part of their moniker to identify themselves and show their affiliation.” 

Brown explains the school administration is always looking at how to maintain a safe environment for their students. Brown said that, despite most students not wearing sports jerseys for the purpose of being gang related, that it’s difficult to make a distinction between what’s gang related and what isn’t, as this tends to change often. Thus, it’s easier to not waste time and simply ban sports jerseys.

Brown stated, “I’ve had situations at schools where a student wears something, having no idea that it’s affiliated with a gang, and somebody will approach them and actually threaten them.”

An informal poll of 30 students found that 20 students were indifferent to the policy, five students did not support the policy, and five students were in agreement with the policy. 

Most were indifferent to the new policy. Adi Patel, a sophomore at Cypress, explained, “Ms. Choi came into the class and told us that we weren’t allowed to wear sports jerseys one day. It looked like a lot of people didn’t care.”  Some students who do wear sports jerseys, and want to show their support for their favorite teams, disliked the rule. Logan Medeiros, a sophomore, stated he was against the new rule. “I just don’t see the reason why we have to ban the sports jerseys in the first place. Maybe I just like watching sports.” Elias Varkley, also a sophomore, thinks the policy goes against our freedoms. “It is a violation of choice, and creates no obvious advantage towards our education.”

Brown understands that students do not love the new policy. But, all in all, the no jersey policy represents another attempt at keeping our school and our students safe, without impeding on student freedoms.