Published: May 16, 2008 01:38 am            

HISD to revisit standardized dress code

The standardized dress code recently adopted by the Huntsville Independent School District board, specifically the guidelines which do not allow blue jeans, will be re-evaluated at the June 19 meeting.

Trustees made the decision to add the dress code onto the agenda after spending more than three hours in two executive sessions during Thursday night’s meeting.

After the board’s second executive session, former board president David Standlee requested that discussion about the standardized dress code be added to the next meeting’s agenda, and other board members sounded their agreement.

“I would like to have the standardized dress code added as an agenda item for the next meeting,” he said. “I would like us to review and consider jeans as a part of this dress code.

“While I feel like we have a really good start on this policy, we’ve had a lot of comments on jeans, and I think that’s something we need to re-evaluate.”

Standlee suggested reconvening the committee originally involved in the decision making process for the dress code so that they could define what “acceptable jeans” would refer to.

“If that committee can study more and come back with another recommendation, they could define what acceptable jeans would be and those could possibly be integrated into the dress code,” he said.

As other board members addressed the option of re-evaluating the standardized dress code, they made it clear that it could be partially altered, not completely changed.

“I am for a dress code because I believe cleaning up our schools and cleaning up our dress code is a good thing,” board secretary Jimmy Langley said. “We want our kids to come to school with the least distractions possible. That being said, a dress code starts at home, and we have to set boundaries for those areas that get neglected.”

Karin Olson Williams, vice president of the board, said she felt the standardized dress code would be better if it were easier for families to become accustomed to.

“This dress code is not my favorite thing, but I do think we need to simplify it,” she said. “I would like to see a dress code that would be easier to adapt to. That means people need to be able to go into their closet and find a few things they can use, including not only jeans, but also something like a polo shirt that might have one too many buttons.”

Standlee also said he would like to see an agenda item added to provide discussion about the consultants currently being utilized in the district.

“I would like us to talk openly about how we’re using consultants and what our long range plans are,” he said. “Basically, I think our grades are looking good, we just have other things we need to work on. We have to keep in mind what’s best for our kids and our taxpayers, and I think if we can look at a couple of these items, it would help everybody out.”

Standlee said his hope was to build a school district that would attract more families to the area.

“A lot of people aren’t giving us a chance right now, and that might be our fault,” he said. “We want them to give us a chance to prove that we can give their kids a good, quality education, and we want to show that our taxpayers are getting their money’s worth by living here.”

To achieve the highest goals for the district, Standlee said he felt the most important strategy would be to build on the strong resources available in HISD.

“We have a lot of talent in this district, and we need to appreciate that talent and cultivate it,” he said. “We don’t want to lose good teachers year after year, because among other things, it costs money to deal with that.

“We want people to go into our schools and say, ‘This is where I want my kids to go to school.’ I feel confident that we can reach those goals and make this a district to be proud of.”

        

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