Catching Up ... Some Weird Dress Code Stories
Justin Bathon on Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 9:13PM I have been working on the site a lot lately and failing to post a lot of good ed. law stories that folks have been sending me. So, I wanted to get these two up concerning dress codes, both of which Scott McLeod sent over. 
(1) A school district is forcing students who break the dress code to wear a prison-style jumpsuit as punishment. Um, how many days until the entire school breaks the dress code on the same day to make a "this school is a prison" type statement? First, second day of school? If you are wondering, the jumpsuits look sort of like the one O.J. is modeling for us.
(2) On the other hand ... a school in California is being sued because they did not have enough regulation of the dress code. A student who was allowed to wear makeup and feminine clothing was shot and killed at the school and now the family is suing because the school allowed the boy to dress so differently which may have contributed to the violent act against him.
Seems like there is an acceptable middle ground, but maybe it is just me?
UPDATE: Well, I didn't even get to bed and I found one more. A student in Missouri who dyed her hair pink in honor of her father that died of cancer is suspended until she changes it. This is a closer call, but if you watch the video below, its not that pink. Anyway, must be the season for dress code issues.
Reader Comments (5)
The hair one is pretty sad. I was once suspended for wearing a skirt that was too short. I was susupended because the teacher suspending me was wearing a skirt about 2 to 3 inches shorter than mine!!! I kind've got into an argument with her about it... lol
I would have handled the situation the same, because the handbook states that students are not allowed to have distracting hair colors or hair styles but I do agree with the student that the handbook should be more clear as to what colors and hair styles are considered to be inappropriate so that it is not questionable. The rules have to apply to everyone, the principal gave her a warning when she had the streaks of pink her hair but then she went and colored all of her hair so he had to follow through.
I think if the school's handbook had already regulated the rule that every student can't have distracting hair color, students should obey the rule. If everyone can dye a different hair color which they like, that really will affect the teachers' emotion to teach. This is just not so good at school. That's my personal opinion.
I think the school should demonstrate that her hair color is interfering with the learning of her classmates. She's a good student, her hair color obviously doesn't interfere with her learning.
I agree with the post above me, if you can show me exactly how her hair is distracting the students and or the teachers then I would have my child change her hair back. It isn't like her hair was hot pink it was a faded shade of pink. Yes it is in the rule book but they don't state exactly what colors are distracting, I think that a short skirt is more distracting then pink hair and I see girls everyday get away with that