Piercing ban for boys to stay at Auckland’s Mount Albert Grammar school

Mt Albert Grammar School in Auckland. Photo / Greg Bowker

By Tom Taylor of RNZ

An Auckland school has refused to buckle over its uniform policy, despite pressure from parents and students, and being at odds with guidelines set by the Human Rights Commission.

Earrings are banned for boys at Mount Albert Grammar, while girls can wear a small stud in their ears.

The school’s principal has told one boy’s mum that it was going to stay that way. Jane Matthews had been trying to change the rule for months after her son Eli was pulled aside for wearing an earring.

“I think it’s petty, I think it’s old-fashioned and I don’t think it represents our current community,” she said.

Matthews took up the issue with the dean, before being passed to the deputy principal and finally to the principal, Patrick Drumm.

Drumm told her it was a matter for the board of trustees. The board tabled the issue at its June meeting, assigning it to the education subcommittee. This newly elected committee did not meet until November, and then referred the issue back to Drumm.

The principal finally wrote to Matthews last week with a decision: The uniform policy would remain unchanged.

“It’s been a massive fob-off to be perfectly honest, and I’m pretty frustrated.”

The Human Rights Commission released a set of guidelines for uniforms earlier this year, stating that schools should provide options that all students can wear, regardless of impairment, health condition, ethnicity, sex or gender identity.

In his letter, Drumm said he had considered the Human Rights Act and sought external advice on the school’s obligations.

But Matthews said he had not gone far enough.

“It’s 2022, for God’s sake. Why can’t a boy wear an earring?

“If they came back to me and said it’s a safety issue, then I would go back to them again and say in that case, drop them for girls - because girls play sport, girls run around in the playground, girls do all those things.”

‘I don’t see a problem … it’s cool’

Matthews said Eli was not wearing the jewellery as a form of rebellion, and had continued to thrive in his studies.

“I’ve just been to the prizegiving because my earring-wearing son was top of his class and got three special certificates for achievement.”

For Eli, the reason for wearing an earring was simple.

“I just like how they look. If it’s not affecting anything, I don’t see a problem with wanting to wear something because it’s cool.”

In his letter, the principal also claimed the school’s “clear and consistent standards around uniform and other expectations” was “providing a culture of confidence and belonging for students”.

But this was not the first time the earring issue had been raised since girls joined the school in 2000. In 2017, a group of students started a petition to introduce a gender-equal policy, which the Post Primary Teachers Association’ supported.

“The rules were placed when they started in the 1920s,” Eli said. “They just want to stay like that but the world’s not staying there, so they’re not growing with the world.”

Drumm was unavailable for comment.

Ministry of Education [MOE] operations and integration leader Sean Teddy said school boards had the authority to make and apply rules for uniforms. But boards must not discriminate against students’ gender, sexuality, culture or religion.

MOE’s inclusive education guidelines advised schools to provide students with the option of wearing any part of the school uniform, regardless of their gender.

The guidelines also recommended schools enforce uniform standards - such as hair length, make-up, and jewellery - equally, regardless of gender identity.