Trouble in the land of the B.E.A.S.T. or.. What's your school policy on dress?

[Elgin Clock]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060827/..._st/dress_code

128 students suspended at Ind. school
Sun Aug 27, 6:46 AM ET



Classrooms were a little less crowded at Morton High School on the first day of classes: 128 students were sent home for wearing the wrong clothes.

Fed up with inappropriate outfits, the principal suspended the students for one day Wednesday, minutes after doors opened at the school. Those suspended represent more than 10 percent of the 1,200 total students.

The offending attire — including baggy pants, low-cut shirts, tank tops and graphic T-shirts — are banned from classrooms. Students were also cited for cell phone use.

"This was the worst year I've seen in a long time," said Principal Theresa Mayerik. "It's gotten out of control, and we needed to send a message that we're not messing around."

The Hammond school usually has 20 dress code violations a day.

Mayerik said the infraction would be removed from students' records in 12 weeks if they had no other in-school violations.

School board members said they support Mayerik and the mass suspensions. "I'd be supportive if half the school was sent home, because 99 percent will get the message our schools are for education," board president Rebecca Ward said.

I must say I will never support school uniforms, and I'm sure there has to be a line drawn somewhere on what is appropriate for a learning environment, but I think this is a little ridiculous.

If anyone from Team 71 has any inside info as to what exactly was considered "inappropriate" I'd love to hear some insight.

(I'm not sure if this is even where Team 71 is based out of, but I saw Hammond, and immediately thought of the team)

I'm sure even if this isn't where team 71 is based out of, someone should have some details or something.

ON a side note, and to make this a good thread to provoke intelligent discussion, and not just a flame war or something, what is your school policy on dress, and do you agree with it or think it is fair for you?

[Andrew Blair]

Huh, I guess we have a rather lax dress code then. Anything but short stuff on girls, (darn it), navels, mini skirts, etc., and clothing with alcohol, cigarette, or drug references is generally OK.

[Billfred]

Back when I was at Irmo, the essentials of the dress code were that you weren't able to show underwear, your navel, or too much shoulder (read: no spaghetti straps), and whatever covered your lower half had to be fingertip length. Also on the black list were gang-related clothing, tops that referenced tobacco/alcohol/drugs/sex/etc, and flip-flops. (I assume that the latter was for safety reasons--ever had someone step on your flip-flop when you're walking?) Oh, and no headgear, except on hat days. (They make sure to emphasize hats, not doo-rags or anything else.)

When I was there, enforcement was generally lax unless it was something serious; I recall many T-shirts loaded with double entendre passing muster with teachers. The principal has changed since my days as a Yellow Jacket, though; I could see him (an import from the district's Alternative Academy, who I remember from my days of going to school board meetings) doing something like this.

But, to get back to the story posted, I'm down with the concept of coming down hard on it. You set the rules, you enforce them. If folks fail to comply with the rules, they deserve to be punished. Not punishing students for it because there are too many infractions just sends the wrong message.

[Donut]

We don't have school uniforms, but here's our dresscode:

No clothing that exposes undergarments, cleavage, or bare midrifs.
No hats, bandanas, "doo rags", visors, etc. while indoors.
No clothes with gang affiliation.
No excessively long ties or clothes with chains or spikes (this one is for safety reasons).
No clothing with vulgarity, sexual content, violence, or promoting alcohol or drug use.

That's all of it summed up there (the list is longer, but alot of it is kind of just to fill in loopholes for the basic things). This is a really easy dress code to follow, unless you're wearing 2" long shorts or a shirt with a large swear word inscribed on it, you're pretty much with in the dress code. Alot of people wear hats, but teachers just tell you to take them off in the building and that's about it.

As added incentive for some of this, our school keeps most of the rooms at a nice cool temperature so that those who wear short clothing will quickly rethink that decision when they start shivering during every class.

[David55]

We just have to wear school shirts (which come in 10 different colors.) And no flip flops allowed.

At the beginning of the year there are teachers checking that everyone has a school shirt, but by the middle of the year you can usually get away with any shirt and by the end of the year it's rear to see a student in school with a school shirt. The school just stops caring.

...Most of our dress code went out the window this recent summer. Spaghetti straps are allowed, as long as the front is "decently" covered, baggy pants aren't complained at... However, gang attire is immediately resulted in a short walk down the street to the police station (it's about 100 yards down the street... wheee....). What was great was last year was this: a couple 114er's and I were wearing our signature team labcoats one day (we had a demo), and a new teacher thought we were wearing ganag attire. That was funny.

But anyway, our school admin just says "wear something that you wouldn't be ashamed of visiting your grandmother in." That saying alone helps keep it decent enough for learning to take place.

[Morgan Gillespie]

Originally Posted by 114ManualLabor

What was great was last year was this: a couple 114er's and I were wearing our signature team labcoats one day (we had a demo), and a new teacher thought we were wearing ganag attire. That was funny.

Heh, this past school year after nationals I had my orange Autodesk bandanna tied to the shoulder strap of my backpack, after a while and teachers seeing the bandanna on a few other students I was asked if it was gang related. I responded with, "If this was a gang symbol then it would be the nerdiest gang in existence. The worst thing this gang could do to you is recreate you in a 3d model and cause painful movements on your ragdoll body." All I got was as a reply was, "Oh...hmm." I was also asked every few days what the heck is Autodesk. Which began a discussion about 3d animation on the robotics team, and the standard response would be, "We have a robotics team!?"

As for our school dress code, it isn't enforced much, shirts with profanity, flip flops, short skirts, shirts with drug/violence/alcohol/gang references all go unnoticed and unpunished, yet I get asked if my shirt with the letters NPC stands for anything drug/violence/alcohol related. Closest thing I can think of to enforcing our dress code is requiring kids to take off hats. Yet then again a new year is coming and perhaps things could be different. We shall see, we shall see.

[sanddrag]

In my high school, we were not allowed to have any clothing with stripes or any logos at all bigger than about a square inch. At first, they didn't even allow cargo shorts/pants but then they did on the condition that they are not baggy. Shirts had to have a collar. Corduroy, jeans, and sweat pants were not allowed. And there were all the same rules as above. From time to time there would be a free dress day where you could where whatever you want. Everyone was pretty much fine with the dress code.

[Lil' Lavery]

I understand most of it, but why no baggy pants? I can see if they were extroadinarily baggy AND long and posed a tripping/safety hazard, but other than that....

[JackN]

Mostly nothing low cut, too much shoulder, no tanktops, no spikes, no Inapropriate shirts, no shorts/skirts that are more than six inches above the knee, and the most interesting, no Trench Coats. All of these schools with the no sandal policy really scare me. That is all I where unless there is snow out or it is a Robotics competition/meeting.

[Michelle Celio]

My school is completely uniforms, unless we earn "jean days" which are stricter than the county dress code. I've been in with the uniforms since 9th grade and I'm in 12th now, and I really don't see a problem with schools and strict dress code. You're not going there to impress your friends, you're there to learn (if only I realized that 3 years ago). I've seen some of the kids that go to the high schools in the district that don't have uniforms and I really don't understand how they can bring themselves to wear some of the things they do.

Our uniform consist of:

• Polos - Available in 4 colors, the school's colors of red black white and yellow
• Dockers or Dickies style pants, must fit the students body and not be utterly over sized or to tight
• Appropriate foot wear - we're allowed sandals but they must have a back strap, *(I've been pushing this rule with my converse since they aren't so posted to be written on and well mine ..are)*
• Professional Dress is also accepted, under the lines of a conserved business

We also have to have our hair in "natural colors" and appropriate styles.
We're limited to FOUR Piercings, ONLY in the lower earlobes and a max of two in each ear.
Shirts must be tucked in (not folded over) with an appreciate belt and belt buckle
Pants must be worn at the hips or above, not below. (Allot of people get yelled at for this one, my self included)
We're allowed to wear skirts but they must be finger tip length and all that fun stuff.
We're not allowed capris, but shorts follow the skirt rule.
We have to have our shoes tied
Those shoes with that random strap that hangs off of them, we're not allowed those unless it's actually fastened

I think that's it I'm not sure. It's really funny, during regionals we were allowed to ride the bus to school like normal, but we're allowed to wear the team uniform (team t-shirt and jeans) we had so many stares as like "What the heck are they thinking".

[Alexa Stott]

Wow, Michelle! That's really strict. I can see what you mean when you say that you're there to learn and not to impress your friends.

I would have almost no problem with that dress code. The only one I'd have is that I like to wear baggy pants/shorts most of the time.

At our school, like Morgan mentioned, it's really lax. Everyone walks around in flip-flops and spaghetti straps and halter tops and the like. I remember one day, a whole bunch of kids all wore big red t-shirts and the administration said nothing about it.

I've never had much trouble with our dress code since I'm more comfortable in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt (or hoodie, if it's cold).

[Jeremiah Johnson]

When I went to Moline, anything and everything was fine. The rules stated otherwise but no one followed them. Being an incity school, you got that "slutty" crowd, for a lack of a better word. There was always the over-occassional thong hanging out and bras popping out of their shirts.

Sherrard stepped up their dress code this year. My girlfriend attends SHS and I hear about this everyday. How she can't wear half of her wardrobe now because her shorts are shorter than the minimum and good thing because I don't want her wearing that stuff to school. They have to have sleeves on their shirts. And there's a bunch more stuff.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

District 214 dress rules are similar to those mentioned above about shirts, revealing clothing, unsafe foot attire, etc. In Chicago baggie pants can be gang sign as well as colored shoelaces, hats, socks, colored belts, neck wear, etc. The Dean of Students are kept up to date by the local police and gang crimes units so that they can keep up with the changes. There still is a lot of leeway but anything construed as gang related will be dealt with quickly and severely.

[Wetzel]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

I understand most of it, but why no baggy pants? I can see if they were extroadinarily baggy AND long and posed a tripping/safety hazard, but other than that....

I'd like to see you hide a weapon in the tight pants the scenesters wear.
At college, we only have dress requirements for the labs for safety reasons.

Wetzel