Wake trying to achieve a less-restrictive — but not too revealing — student dress code
Wake County school leaders say they want to make the student dress code less biased against girls, but at the same time they don’t plan to let students wear whatever they want at school.
A Wake County school board committee discussed Tuesday a new student dress code that would be more gender neutral, eliminating references to a current list of banned items such as clothing that shows too much cleavage. The new policy borrows heavily from the student dress code used in Portland, Ore. But Wake school leaders repeatedly said Tuesday they won’t go as far as Portland, which allows things such as bare-midriff tops, tank tops, strapless shirts, spaghetti straps and short shorts.
“We’re not going to allow students to dress in a way that would not be safe for school,” said Kathryn Chontos, interim assistant superintendent for student support services. “We’re not going to allow just anything at school, because this is a student’s place of work.”
Wake’s current dress code was adopted in 2002 and and lists 11 examples of items that are considered inappropriate, including exposed undergarments, sagging pants, excessively short or tight garments, bare-midriff tops, strapless shirts and attire that exposes cleavage. Individual schools have also been allowed to add their own banned items.
But some female students have complained about how the dress code has caused them to be pulled out of their classrooms. School board member Monika Johnson-Hostler said the current dress code disproportionately impacts girls in general and particularly girls of color.
Back in April, school board member Lindsay Mahaffey urged school administrators to study Portland’s dress code. Districts around the country have adopted Portland’s dress code and sharply expanded what their students can wear at school.
Like Portland, Wake’s proposed code sets general guidelines such as requiring students to wear tops and bottoms with fabric on the front and sides. Clothing must cover breasts and other private parts and must not be transparent. Clothing must cover undergarments, but the tops of waistbands and bra straps can be shown.
Some things are still specifically banned, such as clothing that depicts use of alcohol, tobacco and controlled substances; pornography; hate speech; or that poses a threat to the health and safety of other students or staff.
But Wake’s policy adds some language not used in Portland, including how students may not wear clothing that is “reasonably likely to create a substantial disruption of the educational process or the operations of the school.” Wake’s policy also says students are expected to adhere to standards of dress and appearance that are compatible with an effective learning environment.
“What our public needs to know is we are trying to set a standard for students where they choose to dress appropriately for the environment,” said school board member Bill Fletcher.
Mahaffey said Tuesday that the new code sets positive expectations for what students are supposed to wear as opposed to being a list of what not to wear.
“We’re not saying wear your bikini to school,” she said.
The committee also kicked off Tuesday a review of changes to the rules governing student discipline. School administrators are proposing a wide range of changes designed to promote behaviors that students are expected to demonstrate along with encouragement for schools to consider alternatives before disciplining students for their behavior.
The revised Student Code of Conduct encourages schools to use “non-disciplinary behavioral interventions” first to help students make positive choices when they violate rules. Examples of these interventions include student-parent-teacher conferences, offering rewards, peer mediation and restorative justice programs.
The revised policy says that when school officials deem these non-disciplinary actions to be ineffective then they can use disciplinary consequences such as in-school and out-of-school suspensions, detention and explusions.
Chontos said the goal is to get both the dress code and conduct policy revisions approved in April so they can provide employees enough training before the changes go into effect for the 2019-20 school year. In the meantime, Wake plans to get feedback from students, parents and school employees about both policy changes.
School board member Roxie Cash warned that it will be hard to get buy-in from some parents for the dress code changes based on the “very progressive language.”
“I want to hear what you’re going to tell the parents who feel it’s too liberal of a policy?” she asked.
This story was originally published January 29, 2019 at 7:21 PM.
