In 'step toward unity,' Glen Rock grads will don gender-neutral caps and gowns

GLEN ROCK — Hoping to reduce complications for students who may not identify with a singular gender, the high school principal announced Tuesday that the class of 2018 will break with tradition and graduate in the same colored gowns.

The change ends a half-century tradition of red gowns for the male students and white for the females at commencement.

"Times have changed in terms of gender equity," said Principal John Arlotta on Wednesday. "It's really meant to be a step toward unity."

He described it as an effort to meet changing gender dynamics, particularly to be inclusive of those whose identity is more fluid, and for whom a color-coordinated identifier would prove complicated, if not offensive.

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"Why not just take that part out of the equation," Arlotta asked rhetorically, referring to the gender assigned colors, calling the practice "antiquated."

Tuesday's announcement follows similar changes in several school districts in the area, including Lyndhurst and North Arlington.

While weighing the move, Arlotta said he called Jostens, which provides the caps and gowns to many school districts, and asked if other schools had switched to monochrome color schemes.

"Actually, they told me we were one of the last," he said.

At a recent conference on transgender biases, non-gendered graduation gowns was one of many suggestions from a panel, Arlotta was told by the school's director of curriculum, Kathy Regan.

However, the change is not without controversy. Many parents called the Arlotta to bemoan the loss of a tradition, he said.

"Someone said it's been that way since 1959. My answer is that it's not 1959 anymore," Arlotta said.

A student, senior Christine Nappi, wrote an editorial for the school newspaper on Wednesday that was shared on social media among local parents.

Nappi lamented that it was the boys' color that the female students would be forced to wear, calling the change in favor of red "a slap in the face."

"The girls now have to conform to men once again, which is something I thought our society was past," she wrote.

Her suggestion was that students be allowed to pick their own color, while Nappi's mother, Susan offered that the gowns be black, the third hue in the trifecta of the school's official colors.

Nappi noted in an email to NorthJersey.com and The Record that she and her family "are fully in support of the LGBTQ+ community," adding that she believes "Glen Rock High School has always been an accepting community. This is simply just a tradition that I and my fellow classmates were looking forward to."

Arlotta said he "doesn't care what color it is," but that red was chosen due to foreseeable complications with the other two colors.

The black robes would be hot in June, he said. As for white, the opacity of the robes have constricted what female students can wear underneath.