Wednesday, May 9, 2001

Today, my daughter, a seventh grade Fayette Middle School student, was sent to the office because the shirt she was wearing was supposedly not acceptable under the school dress policy. A counselor gave her a jacket to wear for the rest of the day.

I really appreciate the kind consideration that was shown to my daughter, instead of her being sent to in-school suspension, which I understand is the usual "punishment" for this, if you can't get in touch with a parent. I wasn't called, but I wish I had been. I have been waiting all year for this opportunity to occur because I feel our school dress policy is oppressive, unrealistic and inhumane.

This shirt is a black sleeveless shirt. It was purchased specifically because it met the school dress policy. It is not only three fingers wide, it is four fingers wide at the seam on the shoulder. It has come to the point that while shopping for my daughters' school clothing (I also have a daughter in high school) that we don't even look at the clothes; we merely ask what meets Fayette County school dress policy. There are not many dresses, shorts or shirts in the junior departments of most clothing stores that meet our school dress policy for warm weather clothing for girls.

I agree that shorts cut up to the groin, spaghetti strap shirts, low-cut tops, and short dresses to the panty line are not acceptable, nor are offensive t-shirts and slashed jeans. However, our dress code does not reflect the current "conservative" styles available to parents and students in our local stores.

According to the dress code, girls' shorts must be long enough to meet the child's fingertips and you must slouch ("relax your shoulders") to insure no bare skin can be touched. This is ridiculous! My daughter is a little taller than average height. We tried on scores of shorts at Old Navy, Kohl's, Rich's, Macy's, Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, and JCPenney. How many shorts met the school board's criteria? One. One pair. A single pair of shorts. So instead, my daughters wear long, hot jeans on 85-degree days. This is inhumane!

If you are going to continue down this path, let's just move on to school uniforms. It would be better to have exact specifications than to have to shop for school clothes like we do today. I want to be considered for the next parents/school board member task force on the county's school dress code. I would like to meet the people who are setting up these codes. I would like to have a voice, as a parent of teenaged girls, on what is appropriate to wear to school. We need more leeway than the children are receiving in our schools!

The atmosphere in our schools, with militant assistant principals patrolling the halls, is oppressive enough without having good students harassed because their clothing looks to be not in the dress code.

Good students, with good behavior, and wearing good, conservative clothing, are being stopped in the hall and embarrassed in front of their peers, having their clothes checked and being told to slouch so assistant principals can get their control jollies for the day. This is oppressive and excessive and it is unnecessary.

I find it interesting that I hear that staff's and teachers' kids are not being harassed, nor are the rich, popular kids. Cheerleaders wear sleeveless shirts and skirts up to the panty line and they don't get in trouble?

I am copying The Citizen newspaper on this, because while we discuss it in the stores, in our neighborhoods, and in our homes, obviously it is not getting enough publicity. Let's change the dress code this summer to be more humane and less dictator-like before we have to shop for school clothes for next year.

Sherri Greer

srbgreer@bellsouth.net

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