HALIFAX, Canada - A Halifax-area teenager may face criminal charges for wearing | ||
Dippity Do hair gel and Aqua Velva deodorant to school after his teacher complained | ||
about his ‘fragrant abuse’ of the school’s no-scent policy. | ||
Gary Falkenham, 17, has been suspended twice from Duncan MacMillan High School | ||
5 | in Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia, for violating the school’s strict policy banning perfumes, | |
aftershaves and scented hairsprays and deodorants. Last month, he was forced to stay | ||
home for two days. His latest violation led his teacher, Tanya MacDonald (who is | ||
asthmatic) to launch a formal complaint with the police. “If her reaction was severe | ||
enough you could actually even look at a possible assault charge2),” Constable Scott | ||
10 | Manning said. | |
The school’s strict policy is designed to prevent scented products from bothering | ||
sensitive students and staff, including those with allergies and asthma. “It’s a touchy | ||
area,” Manning said. “You can’t let your teachers become ill because of it, but it’s also a | ||
difficult thing to prove and a lot of kids, I think, don’t see the seriousness of it.” | ||
15 | Meanwhile, Gary’s mother, Shelley Falkenham, thinks calling police over the breaking | |
of a scent rule is ridiculous. “The boy cares about his hygiene and he’s being punished for | ||
it.” She was called to the police station last month to discuss a complaint filed against her | ||
son because of his smell. “I just looked at the police officer and said: ‘Are you serious?’” | ||
The formal policy was brought in at the start of this year after two years of trying in | ||
20 | vain to get the 275 students at the rural school to follow the rules willingly, said Paulette | |
Tate, the vice-principal. A student caught wearing smelly deodorant or other body | ||
products is given a warning the first two times and sent to wash off the offending | ||
fragrance. A third violation results in a suspension from school. As many as 10 students | ||
have been suspended this year, Tate said. | ||
25 | The majority of schools around Halifax have some sort of scent policy, joining public | |
buildings and a growing number of private companies that are banning strong smells in | ||
the city. A few schools in Ontario have joined the crusade as well. A school in Stratford, | ||
Ontario, has a ban on scented products, and Peel District School Board, one of Canada’s | ||
largest, has run awareness campaigns that tell students: “No scents is good sense.” |