In the opening faculty meeting, new Head of School Priscilla Sands dismissed the rule that all male teachers and faculty must wear ties as part of their uniform. Male teachers and staff no longer are required to wear ties on non-casual days and instead are only required to wear a dress shirt and dress pants.
“The male teachers just asked me how I felt and I said …I don’t feel like telling grown ups how to dress,” Head of School Priscilla Sands said. “I just feel as though students and teachers know what’s right and know what they should do, and I think the male teachers still look nice.”
Sands explained that at the school she headed before she came to Marlborough, male teachers were not required to wear ties, but some still chose to just as some continue to wear ties at Marlborough.
“My feeling is everyone knows what appropriate dress is for work,” Sands continued. “I think it’s funny in this day and age to require men to wear ties to work. For some men, it’s really uncomfortable. I thought …we’re supposed to be a community that is enjoying being here and if people are really feeling uncomfortable, why would I want that?” Sands said.
The dismissal of this rule was a relief to many male teachers who found ties uncomfortable. Mathematics Department Head and mathematics instructor Chris Talone expressed his enthusiasm over the tie rule being dismissed.
“I absolutely hated wearing ties. I was probably the person who was the most vocal about hating ties, and I was the one that tried every year to get that rule dismissed,” Talone said. “When you wear a tie, you have to button your shirt all the way up, and it’s really uncomfortable. And as a teacher, you’re moving around all the time, and the tie just gets in the way.”
Network Administrator Tram Tran explained that the dismissal of the tie rule benefitted him greatly because of the activeness his particular job sometimes requires.
“In my job, it definitely helps not to have to wear a tie. Sometimes I have to climb on the roof or under tables and go into closets, and ties get in the way. It’s actually dangerous for me to wear ties because they might get stuck in places like server racks and things like that,” Tran said.
Marlborough Student Lauren ’16 explained that she thought it was a good idea to dismiss the rule.
“[Whether teachers wear ties] doesn’t make a huge difference to students now, but if anything, it makes teachers seem more approachable, and I think it makes the environment a bit less stressful since students know teachers are more comfortable at school,” Lauren said.