Students, parents oppose HISD dress code proposal

By Kristin Edwards
Staff Reporter

February 13, 2008 12:36 am

— Hundreds of parents and students voiced their opposition Tuesday night to the Huntsville Independent School District’s proposal to adopt a standardized dress code, possibly for the next school year.
The dress code proposal has generated considerable discussion throughout the HISD since it was initiated and the meeting at Mance Park Middle School allowed all concerned to air their views.
Parents and students voiced their opinions about the plan, providing written comments or asking questions on notecards submitted before and during the meeting.
The majority of the large crowd expressed its opposition to the plan by cheering and applauding when a comment read aloud opposed the proposal.
For one hour after his initial presentation, HISD Assistant Superintendent John DeBrock answered questions raised by parents and students in the audience.
DeBrock addressed several aspects of the proposed dress code, including financial and social details.
Students also modeled possible combinations of acceptable jackets, shirts, pants, belts and shoes.
“This meeting was called to give community members a chance to let us know what they think about the possible change in the district’s dress code policy,” DeBrock said. “We don’t know if this is going to work or not, and that’s why we’re having this meeting.
“Right now, we’re considering applying this new standardized dress code only to students in secondary school, or grades 5 through 12, where the dress code is more of an issue.”
DeBrock said the district was considering the standardized dress code to protect the students’ safety and educational experience.
“The basic reasons we’re considering adopting a standardized dress code come down to security,” he said. “Some of you may think we have pretty safe schools, but we know the dress code has been a problem in some places and we don’t want it to be a problem here.
“We can’t educate kids if they’re distracted or scared, and those are the two topics we really want to touch on in discussing standardized dress.”
DeBrock began his presentation with a slideshow which featured some of the types of clothes which would not be acceptable if a standardized dress code were applied.
“We would be ruling out pants with holes in them, pants that show off mid-drifts, pants with chains on them or pants that touch the ground,” he said. “The dress code would also rule out most hooded sweatshirts, and only clothing with very small logos would be allowed.
“The primary philosophy behind that is that different logos are sometimes used as indicators where there is a large gang influence, and this would do away with that being an issue.”
DeBrock also gave examples of various belts and shoes that would no longer be allowed.
“Belt metal could be used as a very serious weapon, so we would only allow belt buckles the size of a credit card or smaller to be worn,” he said.
Examples of the price ranges that clothing items in the standardized dress code would fall into were also included in DeBrock’s presentation.
Most of the individual items, such as shirts and khaki pants, were priced at $20 or less.
“When we called J.C. Penney’s to find out about the availability of clothing, they said items would have to be ordered,” DeBrock said. “It would take about a year and a half until they were designated as a uniform center.
“At Wal-Mart, things run a little bit cheaper, and when Target makes it to Huntsville, the prices there are very reasonable as well.”
Notecards submitted covered a variety topics.
One notecard posed the question of why, if the current dress code is not enforced stringently, a standardized dress code would change the level of dress code compliance and enforcement.
“With a standardized dress code, it’s much easier to look at a student and see whether or not they’re in compliance,” DeBrock said. “As it is written, the existing dress code is too vague and can consume an enormous amount of time for those enforcing it.
“I believe a standardized dress code is more enforceable than the code we currently have in place.”
Several of the comments submitted addressed the financial ramifications of enforcing a standardized dress code.
“One comment discusses parents having to buy their children a set of clothes for school and a set of clothes for the weekend,” DeBrock said. “To that, I would have to tell the parents that that’s up to them. A lot of parents already have play clothes they ask their kids to wear on the weekends but not to school.
“This is another reason we thought to include jeans in the possible standardized dress code, because that would help to reduce the need to buy two sets of clothes to a certain extent.”
DeBrock also addressed the possibility of providing financial aid to a segment of the low-income families in the district who could potentially not be able to afford to pay for standardized dress options.
“We do feel like we can address the need for provisions for low-income families as we look forward into this,” he said. “This is a community that wants to reach out and help, and every year we have more school supplies donated to us than we can give out.
“Maybe instead of donating school supplies, people could look at donating standardized dress items or money to start a fund for those items.”
Where the standardized dress code applied, DeBrock said teachers would also be expected to adhere to the code, as well.
“I think we have to accept the fact that teachers are role models for our students,” he said. “If we’re going to expect them to be role models, then they have to be equal or better to the standards we hold our students to where their attire is concerned.”
In response to the numerous questions concerning the lack of individuality in a standardized dress code, DeBrock denied that the code’s implementation would destroy students’ opportunities to express themselves.
“You can look at any group dressed the same and recognize the individuals,” he said. “Students can show their individuality with their academic performances, which is what we should be looking at anyway.”
DeBrock said there were several options to consider in lieu of adopting a completely new standardized dress policy.
“Our backup plan would be to have more stringent enforcement of the dress code as it was written last year,” he said. “This decision has not been made yet, and we will continue to look at the various options in front of us.”
At next week’s school board meeting — set for Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the Huntsville High School auditorium, DeBrock said the possible standardized dress code will again be addressed.
“Superintendent Richard Montgomery will have his superintendent’s council meeting next Monday to review a variety of issues, and we’ll present the standardized dress proposal there, as well,” DeBrock said. “Next Thursday, Feb. 21, we’ll have a board meeting and we’ll try to have a recommendation to make to the board at that time.
“At that point, if the board says to move forward, we’ll assemble a committee that would then decide what the standards of the new dress code would include.”
DeBrock said the committee assembled would determine the types of fabrics and colors which would be included in the new dress code.
“If an advisory board is formed, my recommendation would be to put together a representative committee that includes parents, students, teachers and administrators to decide what the new dress code would include,” Montgomery said. “What they would be responsible for coming to a consensus on would be the types of clothing items and the ranges of colors included in our district.”
DeBrock said any parent, student or concerned community member interested in making further comments could do so through the district’s Web site or by contacting the administration office by phone.
“We’ll be keeping all of the comments submitted tonight at least through this whole process,” DeBrock said. “If you don’t feel like your question has been fully answered, we’d be more than happy to discuss it with you.”
To reach DeBrock or Montgomery, visit www.huntsville-isd.org or call (936) 295-3421.

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