2/9/2005 10:34:00 AM School cracks down on 'revealing' clothes
Students at Port Townsend High School model dress code violations such as shirts and skirts that are too short, bare shoulders, and low-cut pants that reveal boxers and underwear. – Photo by Rey Alvarado
With less is more being the style of the moment, Port Townsend High School staff and administrators are cracking down on exposed underwear and skin.
"We're not trying to cramp a kid's style," said Port Townsend High School Principal Carrie Ehrhardt of the school's newly enforced dress code. "We just need their bodies appropriately covered."
Ehrhardt said the dress code is nothing new for the school but that it's finally being enforced, which is taking some getting used to.
"We've had clothing expectation guidelines in the student handbook for as many years as I've been here," Ehrhardt said.
After students returned to school in January, administrators and faculty have been enforcing the dress code that stipulates no showing of undergarments, no baggy pants, no clothing advertising sex, drugs, alcohol or violence, and no clothing that reveals a "significant amount of skin" including low-cut shirts and midriff- and shoulder-revealing tops.
"We're not opposed to the style, but we are opposed to the display of undergarments or skin," Ehrhardt said.
Increasingly provocative
Before holiday break, Ehrhardt said a letter was sent home to parents asking for their cooperation in enforcing dress code expectations.
"We told them about this before we started enforcing it," Ehrhardt said about the letter sent home with semester grades. "We mentioned buying a belt over Christmas if that's what needed to happen."
Ehrhardt said the idea to enforce the code came when she and Assistant Principal Tom Kent noticed clothing becoming increasingly provocative.
"It seems as if every year the dress gets more provocative – more kids are wearing their pants low, showing their underwear and bellies," she said. "We counted in the lunch room one day and found 30 students who we felt were dressed inappropriately."
Ehrhardt said her feelings were echoed by many staff and faculty members.
"Teachers said they felt uncomfortable assisting students because of their dress," she said. "That made us realize we needed to take on this dress issue at school and hold students accountable."
Principal's office
Ehrhardt said she and Kent have been keeping track of the number of students they've spoken to about dress code violations. Since January, Ehrhardt said they've talked to 23 students.
"We make initial contact and tell them they are dressed inappropriately," Ehrhardt said. "Then we make a call to a parent or leave a message to let them know."
She said only two of the 23 students were second-time offenders, and they were suspended for the rest of the day.
"We have them come back to school the following day with their parent, showing that they are appropriate for school," she said. "We haven't had any offenses beyond that."
Ehrhardt said when she talks to students, another administrator or faculty member is present.
"When we talk to kids, it's because we've seen the violation or it has been reported to us," Ehrhardt said. "I never have to ask students what kind of underwear they're wearing; chances are if they're called into the office, I already know."
Students, parents react
Parents have been supportive of the dress code, Ehrhardt said.
"Some parents tell me that they've been telling their kids they can't wear their pants to school as they do," she said.
Emily Quintana, a parent of a PTHS student, said she has no problem with a dress code but does take issue with how administrators are enforcing it.
"They need to be respectful if they want the students' respect," Quintana said. "If they did that there would be no problem."
Students are decidedly mixed on this issue. Some feel the code stunts their ability to express themselves, and others think it's no big deal.
"I don't think having a dress code at our school is that big of a deal," said sophomore Lindsey Mayer. "The major problem is with boys wearing really baggy pants."
Mayer's friend Keely Peters, also a sophomore, agreed. "I don't think people dress that bad," she said.
Senior Richard Lockwood said he doesn't see a point to the code.
"It's just another way the administration is trying to limit us," Lockwood said. "I was told my pants were too low." Lockwood gestured to his black studded belt, cinched at his hips. "They're not."
Andrea DiPrete, a junior, said she finds the dress code and administration's enforcement "really violating." She said she has been asked to put a jacket or sweater over tank tops.
"They [the administrators] stand around and watch us at lunch," DiPrete said. "It's unnecessary, and the way they're enforcing the dress code is creepy. It's just another restriction."
Many PTHS students received a flyer on their car in January about dress codes and constitutional rights. The anonymous flyer quotes the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Constitution.
"Your attire is protected by the first and 14th amendments to the Constitution," the flyer reads. "Mention these amendments to your school officials if they comment on your attire. If you're willing to go to court to affirm your right to express yourself, tell them that also."
Other schools
Like Port Townsend, Chimacum High School and Middle School students are expected to dress according to guidelines. Quilcene's superintendent and high school principal could not be reached for comment.
Chimacum High School Principal Rex Whipple said students are expected to dress in good taste while they're at school.
"Parents and guardians are responsible to make sure that happens," Whipple said. "Clothing promoting alcohol or drugs, or that is sexual in nature is not allowed; spiked materials are prohibited, and administration has the right to restrict other clothing as well."
Whipple said several parents have expressed interest in a stricter dress code – members of the high school's administration are meeting with parents and community members to review policies.
"Part of how kids dress is just the styles," he said. "Finding clothes appropriate to a dress code is a challenge because of that."
Whipple said he doesn't find that many students are dressing inappropriately for school in Chimacum.
"Kids are generally pretty cooperative," Whipple said. "When they're not dressed appropriately, we ask them to change or put something else on, sometimes turn a shirt inside out."
Whipple, who previously taught in Safford, Ariz., commented that students in Jefferson County wear more than students in southern Arizona.
Ehrhardt acknowledges that her administrators might run into more problems as warmer weather approaches.
"We're expecting more violations when the weather starts warming up," she said. "We know that we're not done."
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