One of the biggest challenges I encounter in MNPS is this idea that "we've always done it this way!" It's an attitude that seems to pervade many of the daily decisions in the district, and sometimes is (accidentally) explicitly stated. I wasn't raised in Metro Schools, so I know that while MNPS may have always done it this way, other districts haven't. At Tuesday's MNPS Board governance committee, board member Emily Masters said something that gave me a little bit of hope that students' voices are being heard and changes can be made, even in a district like MNPS. In the clip below, Masters proposed a change to district policy around dress code to state that the dress code should be gender neutral and not contain gender-specific language, and that "Dress code enforcement shall be based solely on the guidelines, and shall not be based upon biases, gender norms, or gender assumptions." At the 30:28 minute mark, after adopting the changes, Ms. Ma