SCHOOL OFFICIALS CLARIFY BAN ON SNOWMAN GARB

Snowmen are no longer considered just a symbol of winter weather, but also
of drugs.

After rap-music artist Young Jeezy made a snowman T-shirt popular, many
school districts banned clothing with the graphic.

While at first glance the sparkling snowman may just look angry, city
police Officer Julie Wagner said it signifies drug abuse - cocaine use in
particular.

Now, Greater Johnstown Schools Superintendent Barbara Parkins is making
sure parents understand the district's recently implemented policy
regarding snowmen. After the policy announcement, some confusion spread
among parents.

Parkins said this specific type of snowman - the Young Jeezy and similar
knockoffs - is not permitted in school. The snowman touts slanted eyebrows
and a grimace.

Parkins said many parents mistakenly thought there was a complete ban on
snowmen or snowman-related items. It is OK for that second-grade teacher to
sport a snowman pin, and for the 11th-grader to sport the traditional
Frosty on her sweater.

"We aren't letting our students wear the Young Jeezy T-shirt," she said.
"Snowmen aren't banned from our schools."

Wagner said she learned about the T-shirt during training on gang-related
crime that she attended in November.

After returning from the training, she gathered more research and sent the
information to administrators in the Greater Johnstown School District.

"That way, they had the history of the T-shirt and why it signifies what it
does," she said. "When you don't look into the background, you don't know."

Wagner said Young Jeezy was a known drug dealer prior to becoming a rapper.

Kimberly Dunn, a therapeutic staff-support worker in a neighboring school
district, said she heard of the ban - and thought it was against all snowmen.

"I disagree with it as a citizen," she said. "I am sure (administrators')
intentions are all well and good, but they need to be informed that they
can't do it."

She said she thought the ban even extended to Santa Claus.

Snowmen calendars still are hanging in elementary classrooms and Parkins
said she even handed out holiday cards to her staff with snowmen graphics.

"Because we don't permit any kind of promoting of drugs in the school, that
is the reason (for the Jeezy T-shirt ban)," Parkins said.

"We found it to be educationally disruptive."

Wagner said many parents she spoke with did not know the meaning behind the
clothing.

She encourages parents to talk to their children about the T-shirts.

"Try to find where their kids are coming from and what they think of the
T-shirt," Wagner said. "A teenager can grasp that instead of ruling with an
iron first."