Are pajama bottoms the new yoga pants?
Plus: News of the week — Universities start semester in virtual mode due to Covid — Jail faces dangerous staffing levels — ABC stores cut hours — BOOM Charlotte festival plans a return
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PJ pants are big outside the bedroom, and some high schools are rethinking their dress codes; ‘It’s not a hill that we want to die on’
Pajama pants are a popular fashion choice that teens are wearing these days to area high schools … and Target, the grocery store, shopping malls, medical appointments and so on.
by Cristina Bolling
Remember back to the days when people were all worked up over yoga pants?
Girls were getting banned from airplanes for wearing them, women were being shamed for donning them at the grocery store without having gone exercising first (as if anyone would know), and the newly coined “athleisure” term caused eyes to roll into the back of the head.
Now, how do pajama pants in public strike you?
If you’ve been paying attention while out and about recently, you’ve seen PJ pants nearly everywhere you do business, and especially on one age group in particular: teens.
When you think about it, it makes sense. Being home during virtual learning made students accustomed to forgoing “hard” clothes with things like buttons and zippers in favor of plush fleece and soft flannel.
High schoolers often leave for class in the wee hours of the morning, and isn’t that more palatable when you’re wearing what feels like a soft hug? (With bonus points to the fact that you can display your love for, say, the Kansas City Royals or plaid or puppy dogs while doing it.)
Some high schools are fighting the fashion trend and sticking tight to their no-pajamas dress code policies, saying that when students are more put-together they’re in a better mindset for learning. (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools allows schools to create and implement their own dress codes.)
But others, like Ardrey Kell High, are tweaking their dress codes to allow pajama pants, after students argued that pajama pants aren’t much different than sweatpants, cause no visual disruption and bring them comfort.
Ardrey Kell Principal Jamie Brooks said the journey to the school’s reverse-course on pajama pants began after teachers came to Brooks as the weather cooled last fall asking why the school wasn’t enforcing the “no pajamas” policy that was written into the school dress code, but was enforcing other school rules.
For a brief period after teachers complained, Brooks says she went about enforcing the policy, even going so far as to stand in school hallways humorously congratulating students with a slightly (in her words) passive aggressive “thank you for getting dressed this morning!”
For rule-breakers who wore pajama pants anyway, “90% had another pair of pants in their book bag,” she said. But students were unhappy and threatening to protest.
Brooks took the issue to the school’s School Leadership Team in December, which after a hearty discussion voted overwhelmingly in favor of writing a line into the dress code allowing pajama pants, while still prohibiting slippers and other types of pajamas.
“Really, when you get down to it, pajama pants are a lot less revealing than a lot of the things kids are choosing to wear,” Brooks told The Ledger this week. “We understand that the fashion trend of the year 2022 is all of these pajama pants that you can buy at Old Navy for five bucks, that are comfortable and look like sweatpants. … It’s not a hill that we want to die on.”
And indeed, high schools have far bigger issues at hand this year than pajama pants.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will soon require all high schoolers to carry clear backpacks because of an increase in guns being brought to school. Covid spikes and teacher staffing shortages are leaving educators overwhelmed and exhausted and some schools are seeing a rise in violent acts.
At Myers Park High, principal Robert Folk says pajama pants are not something that gives him pause.
“The students call them ‘lounge pants’ and insist they are not pajamas. I would call them comfortable!” he wrote to The Ledger in an email. “Our dress code does not outlaw pants of this nature, and I am not going to become a fashion expert to determine what is pajamas and what is not.”
So, what about the rest of us?
It’s long been a thing to see a grownup dashing into a grocery or drugstore in pajama pants, but are they about to become everyday adult-wear?
“I hope not,” laughs Fort Mill-based stylist Tonya Speaks of Practical Style and Spaces.
Speaks said she predicts a continuation of “the trend of pants that will mimic pajamas — waistbands that are not restricting, wider leg pants. That’s what brands are putting out; hopefully not what looks like full-blown pajamas.”
The year 2020, she said, “gave us permission (to be comfortable). We were looking for permission. The rules have loosened a little bit because of 2020, and this is the brands’ answer to that.”
Speaks said that when her own 12th grade daughter came to her recently asking for mom’s blessing to wear pajama pants to school, Speaks assessed her daughter’s whole look — freshly washed pajama pants, nice sneakers, stylish top — and decided that instead of looking sloppy, it looked neat enough for school.
“At first I fought against it,” she said, “but they made it their own little trend.”
Cristina Bolling is managing editor of The Ledger: cristina@cltledger.com
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This week in Charlotte: Jails face dangerous staffing levels, universities delay opening, security needed at Covid testing sites, BOOM Charlotte festival returns
On Saturdays, The Ledger sifts through the local news of the week and links to the top articles — even if they appeared somewhere else. We’ll help you get caught up. That’s what Saturdays are for.
Education
Covid and schools: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials said in an update Friday evening that the Covid surge “presented challenges” in the district’s first week back following the holiday break. There were 1,029 teacher absences, 400 of which the district was able to fill with substitutes, and district administrators stepped in to fill teacher slots at more than 20 schools. The district had 98 bus driver absences during the week, with an additional 48 drivers who were on approved leave. Around 146 routes bus were impacted, with some buses running double or combined routes.
Universities delay in-person classes: (WFAE) The spike in Covid cases due to the Omicron variant is causing some Charlotte-area colleges to delay their return to campus following the holiday break. Schools are holding virtual classes as they delay their returns, and plan to take safety precautions when students are back in classrooms and dorms. UNC Charlotte, Queens University, Davidson College and Johnson & Wales University plan to start the semester with remote classes or delay reopening.
Masks and Omicron spread in schools: (WFAE) N.C. health director Elizabeth Tilson this week said that the bulk of studies done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that consistent use of masks is beneficial in schools. Tilson said a review of school clusters between Oct. 10 and Dec. 7 showed that 45% of the districts with mask-optional policies reported a Covid cluster, whereas only 9% of mask-mandatory districts reported such, and she said that multi-layered cloth masks that fit well also help prevent the spread of Omicron.
Politics
Political contributions resume: (Observer) Some 13 companies that said they would temporarily suspend contributions to lawmakers after the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol have resumed giving to at least five of the seven N.C. Republicans who objected that day to certifying the election of President Joe Biden. Starting in late April, some of those 13 companies started giving to House Republicans from North Carolina, including U.S. Reps. Richard Hudson, Virginia Foxx, Greg Murphy, Dan Bishop and David Rouzer. They, along with Reps. Madison Cawthorn and Ted Budd, all supported an objection to counting Biden’s electoral votes from at least one state.
Switch on council economic committee: (Biz Journal, subscriber-only) Mayor Vi Lyles named council member Malcolm Graham as head of the council’s economic development committee, replacing council member Tariq Bokhari, an occasional Lyles critic. Bokhari said on Twitter that the move “seems a bit ‘vindictive.’” The mayor told the Business Journal that “I just think we need to have a leadership that has the maturity to not take these things personally.”
Local news
ABC store hours: Mecklenburg ABC stores will shorten their hours because of “the impact of Covid-19 exposures resulting in labor shortages.” Effective Monday, all 29 ABC stores will be open 12:30-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. (Hours will be unaffected for bar/restaurant purchases.)
BOOM Charlotte Festival returns: (BOOM Charlotte) The BOOM Charlotte creative arts festival will return in April after a two-year hiatus due to Covid. Festival organizers said Friday that the event will happen April 22-23 in Plaza Midwood. It’ll feature art displays and film, as well as dance, music and comedy performances.
Jail staffing: (WBTV) State inspectors have ruled the Mecklenburg County Jail unsafe for inmates and workers because of low levels of staff. Inspectors said there has been a rise in the number of incidents that have resulted in the injury of staff and inmates and there have been delays in response time providing assistance to staff to control the incidents. State officials say they’ll likely recommend that the population at the jail be reduced to fewer than 1,000 inmates. The jail currently has approximately 1,407 inmates.
Streetcar to remain free because of delays: (Transit Time) Citing a labor shortage that has left the Charlotte Area Transit System lacking drivers, CATS CEO John Lewis said this week that the new Gold Line streetcar will remain free, for now. “We’re struggling to meet the frequency levels we initially set on the CityLynx Gold Line streetcar,” Lewis said in a video released this week. The service will remain free “until we are able to provide our riders with consistently reliable service,” he said. Transit Time reported last month that the line advised riders of delays in a majority of its first 100 days, sometimes running streetcars only every 40 or even 60 minutes.
StarMed brings in security: (WSOC) StarMed Healthcare has brought in off-duty police officers to help with security and help manage traffic because of incidents at its testing sites between people waiting for Covid tests and those living in neighborhoods where long lines snake through. StarMed had to close a South Charlotte testing site on Wednesday due to two gun-related incidents.
Business
Airport traffic: (Biz Journal) November 2021 passenger traffic at Charlotte Douglas International Airport wasn’t quite up to 2019 levels, but it was far higher than the airport saw in November 2020. Slightly more than 3.9M people traveled through the Charlotte airport last November — about 163,100 passengers shy of the nearly 4.1M people during November 2019, according to the airport’s latest monthly airline and cargo activity summary. The November 2021 number represented a 71% increase from the 2.3M people there that month in 2020.
Big residential projects ‘pause’ in Cornelius: (Observer, subscriber-only) Town leaders in Cornelius agreed to hold off on approving housing developments with more than 10 apartments, condos or townhouses so that they can study infrastructure and traffic. It is expected to last 9-12 months.
Davidson prof to join Fed board? President Biden is considering naming a Davidson College professor to the Federal Reserve board, which sets the nation’s monetary policy. The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, said Davidson’s Philip Jefferson is under consideration for a vacant seat. Jefferson is an economist who has served as Davidson’s chief academic officer and dean of the faculty since 2019. The seven members of the Federal Reserve board serve 14-year terms and oversee the operation of the country’s central bank. Bloomberg said the appointment was “likely” and said that Jefferson would be just the fourth Black man to serve on the Fed board in its more than 100-year history.
Federal ‘vax or test’ mandate watched: (Ledger 🔒) Local HR and legal departments of many mid-sized and large companies are closely watching the status of new federal rules on Covid vaccinations scheduled to take effect next week. New rules from the Biden administration require companies with 100 or more workers to ensure that their employees are vaccinated or regularly tested, but the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Friday in a lawsuit challenging the legality of the regulations.
Good reads
Event planner-turned-biographer: (Observer) For decades, Mary Tribble was one of Charlotte’s best-known event planners, staging huge galas for the NCAA Final Four and the Democratic National Convention. Then she made an enormous career change, returning to her alma mater, Wake Forest University, as an executive. She recently published a book about her fourth great-grandmother, Sally Merriam Wait, wife of Wake Forest University founder Samuel Wait. In this interview with the Observer’s Dannye Romine Powell, Tribble describes the journey to writing her book about an ancestor who embodied “wisdom, a fiery spirit, patience and a ‘no pout’ sense of duty.”
Charlotte’s role in building Amazon’s Alexa: (Ledger 🔒) A new book sheds light on an obscure 2011 deal in which Amazon bought a Charlotte tech company called Yap — and then used the technology and employees to help create the Amazon Echo. It’s a little-known Charlotte tech success story. Yap’s founder said: “I always love this story, because I can mess with people, like, ‘Where do you think something like that that’s so high end and in everybody’s home came from?’ I’m like, ‘No, it was in a warehouse right behind the Panthers’ stadium, for God’s sake.’”
From the Ledger family of newsletters
Invasion of the Northerners: (Monday) North Carolina is gaining more new residents than all of the states but three according to new census estimates, and the numbers show that the increase in people moving here is picking up. North Carolina’s total population in 2021 was almost 10.6 million, making it the 9th-largest state.
Warm weather closes ski resorts: (Monday) Ski resorts in the North Carolina mountains were closed over the new year’s holiday due to high temperatures. Although N.C. ski resorts make their own snow and do not rely on natural snow, it still needs to be cold enough for the manufactured snow to stick.
Improve your public speaking: (Wednesday 🔒) If becoming a better public speaker is on your goals list or 2022, Ledger managing editor Cristina Bolling has rounded up some tips and advice from local communications experts. She got a range of expert talkers, from WSOC’s Joe Bruno to Interact Studios founder Lou Solomon to critique clips of her on-camera appearances and offer constructive criticism.
A chef and an educator: (Ways of Life 🔒) Catherine Rabb was influential as an educator, a restaurateur, a culinary and wine expert and a community builder. She was one of the original faculty who opened Johnson & Wales University’s Charlotte campus in 2004 and she and her husband, Don, owned and operated the neighborhood eatery Fenwick’s. She died last month of cancer at age 64.
N.C. speed traps: (Transit Time) North Carolina has fewer speed trap towns than other states because there are limited financial incentives for police to write tickets. But there are still speed traps around here — like an infamous one on the way to the beach, in McBee, S.C. — and Rutherford County is rumored to have an officer known as “The Tickenator,” writes Jeremy Markovich of the North Carolina Rabbit Hole newsletter.
Cards out, cookies in: (Friday 🔒) Amy’s Hallmark at Cotswold Village, one of only two remaining Charlotte Hallmark stores, is closing in February after more than 25 years. It’s been a tough time for the greeting card industry. A Crumbl Cookies is taking its place.
What’s the fate of the historic McCrorey YMCA? (Friday 🔒) As part of the “You Ask, We Answer” series, we look into what could happen to the historic McCrorey Branch YMCA building, which from 1951 to 1969 served as a resource for education, recreation and business-development in Brooklyn, a vibrant Black community in Charlotte destroyed by urban renewal. The now-vacant building sits on Caldwell Street in uptown.
Program for homeless: (Friday 🔒) The number of sites offering homeless people weekend shelter in Roof Above’s Room In The Inn program has dropped sharply this winter, but the number of people seeking shelter has also fallen. A program manager explained what’s likely behind the decreases.
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project