Pittsburgh Dish

"Rat Day" scurries away

Fox Chapel Area High School admits condoning classism.

Last month, the school instituted a Student Government Constitution hoping it will promote “a positive school climate and in shaping the future of the school.”

The new charter is a direct result of a senior who exposed herself to ugly personal attacks at the expense of exposing an ugly school tradition.

On Nov. 9, 2005 Dish published a story by Joanna Bernstein who chronicled the Halloween custom of wealthier students “dressing up” as kids from less affluent towns. In her report, Bernstein described how students from tony Fox Chapel wore clothes similar to those worn by kids from middle-class Sharpsburg.

"Instead of their usual Abercrombie and Fitch polo shirts and Steve Madden loafers, the "rich kids" donned generic brand athletic jerseys, ripped jeans, and dirty white high tops. Their costumes were no secret and no joke,” Bernstein wrote.

Bernstein reported that it was tolerated by school administrators. Many of the students that lowered their standards for top drawer togs that day were several active members of the Student Council.

"One of them was the Student Body President, whose actions spoke the loudest because it is his duty to represent all members of the student body equally, and not favor those who come from backgrounds similar to his own. It also leaves students from Sharpsburg feeling more alienated from the rest of the student body than they already are,” she wrote.

Bernstein’s story sparked outrage from fellow students. She was personally berated through comments posted on Dish and threatened at school (she was told that her story might cause someone to physically harm her).

Most of the emails Dish received immediately following the story did not include a denial of the Halloween custom—only a defense. Some of the students referred to “Rat Day” as being harmless.

I'm sorry, but when you live 5 minutes away from my house but you talk in some dialect that makes you sound stupid, I have every right to do whatever I want based on that. Besides, I'm sure that if any of the rats came in dressed with a polo shirt, popped collar, plaid shorts, et cetera, nobody would even care.

Another accused Bernstein of stereotyping—albeit through stereotyping (and poor spelling and grammar):

Rats dress the way they do, not because they can’t afford it. They don't disrupt class because, "their parents are desk clerks." Would you have written this article if the "rats," would have worn collared shirt? Don't even try to say that "the rich kids" are favorites at FC. A "rat" is usually best friends with the security and can skip class and act out with less punishment then rich kids

Bernstein never used the term “Rat Day” in her story, subsequently her account was validated by her detractors. Last month, her story was also validated by school administrators.

The constitution begins: “All students and staff, regardless of gender, religion, color, socioeconomic status or creed should have the opportunity to be involved in the Student Government.”

Bernstein asked a teacher if the new policy had anything to do with her article.

"It has everything to do with it,” the teacher told Bernstein.

Fox Chapel High: Where it's OK to dress as an alien(ator)

When one thinks of a typical Halloween costume, dressing up as a witch or a Marvel comic book character comes to mind. But this year, a group of well-to-do male seniors at Fox Chapel Area High School took dressing up to a new low.

by Joanna Bernstein

On the Friday morning before Halloween, 10 to 15 students, all of whom are residents of the Fox Chapel area’s most affluent neighborhoods (and home to Teresa Heinz Kerry), marched into school dressed as students from Sharpsburg, a less wealthy neighborhood from which a minority of Fox Chapel Area High School students live.

From the moment they entered the building, it was clear who this group of students were targeting. Instead of their usual Abercrombie and Fitch polo shirts and Steve Madden loafers, the "rich kids" donned generic brand athletic jerseys, ripped jeans, and dirty white high tops. Their costumes were no secret and no joke.

And it was tolerated by the administration.

Among those that came dressed up as students from Sharpsburg were several active members of the student council. One of them was the Student Body President, whose actions spoke the loudest because it is his duty to represent all members of the student body equally, and not favor those who come from backgrounds similar to his own. It also leaves students from Sharpsburg feeling more alienated from the rest of the student body than they already are.

Ever since I enrolled as a freshman at Fox Chapel Area High School in 2002 I remember having an awareness of an extremely prevalent class divide between the students from the more wealthy areas (Fox Chapel Borough and O'Hara Township) and those from the less wealthy areas of the district (Sharpsburg and Blawnox). If you were to ask a student from Fox Chapel Borough what their parents do for a living and to describe their house, more often than not will they tell you that one parent is a doctor and that the other is a lawyer. They might also tell you that their house has three to four bedrooms, a multiple car garage and several acres of land.

If you were to ask a student from Sharpsburg the same question, there’s a good chance they’d respond by saying that their parents, or parent, might be a desk clerk or a home health aide. In terms of their household they might describe their house, or apartment, as much smaller--with one or two bedrooms, no garage, and perhaps a small fenced-in yard. In a school where the majority of students who parade through the halls have the collars of their pastel colored polo shirts popped up and have parents that have graduated from four-year colleges, there is an undeniable sense of superiority these students possess as they pass their “peers” in the hall who shop at Wal-Mart and are less likely to have parents with post secondary educations.

When I asked Cristin Rowe, a junior from Sharpsburg how she felt about the actions of those who dressed up as people from her neighborhood she said, “Just because they have more money than us, and dress differently, they think that they’re better, and that we’re somehow lower than them.” While Cristin seemed very angry and upset with the students that chose to dress up in such an offensive manner, she didn’t seem too surprised by their actions.

This makes sense and just serves as further evidence to the fact that students from Sharpsburg feel looked down upon by other students.

When I spoke to a member of the student council about his provocative decision to come dressed as a student from Sharpsburg for Halloween he said that “this is the one day where I can take advantage of dressing like someone else without getting too much B.S. for it.” I asked him if he’d ever considered that choosing that "costume" might have students from Sharpsburg feel uncomfortable. He replied the he “never though of that, but that I did have a point.” He added that the costumes were meant to be “in good nature and fun.”

I’m not sure how making fun of a less wealthy student’s clothing and attire is all supposed to be in good nature and fun, but in all fairness, he did acknowledge that he could see how he could have offended students from Sharpsburg.

The Fox Chapel Area High School administration made no attempt to confront these students that chose to dress up as kids from Sharpsburg. Principal Kenneth Williams greeted the student council president with a hearty handshake that morning, smiled at his attire, and asked “How are you doing this morning sir?”

The following week I asked Williams how he felt about the students' choice to mock their peers from Sharpsburg and the administration’s decision not to take any form of disciplinary action against the students. He denied being aware of any such offensive costumes and declined to further comment on the issue. The administration’s inaction has spoken louder than words and is strongly being felt by students from Sharpsburg. Another junior from Sharpsburg told me that he feels there is “favoritism in the administration towards kids from Fox Chapel that have money.”

He also conveyed no sense of surprise that once again students from Fox Chapel were “picking on kids with less money,” and that once again, they were getting away with it.

Read update here.

Photos from top: FCAHS; homes in Sharpsburg; a home in Fox Chapel; the Heinz Kerry estate.