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

[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.