The student dress code has always received mixed opinions. Some students feel like it is a necessary procedure, while others despise it.
Some students, like sophomore Karima Magruder admit that they appreciate the rules.
“It’s okay, but some people, like girls, take it too far and are very inappropriate,” said Magruder, continuing “you shouldn’t dress where we can see your butt, but generally I like the dress code.”
However, some students, like junior Claire Mudd disagree with the dress code.
“I feel like they enforce the minor incidents such as showing shoulder but they don’t enforce the more important violations such as showing underwear and butt” said Mudd.
Many students said they did not have strong feelings about the dress code.
Freshman Miles Dobbins says “I guess it is okay. I haven’t really seen a lot of violations,” and Junior Vinai Rachakonda simply claims “I really don’t have any feelings regarding the topic”.
Administrators Ms. Sandra Lyles and Ms. Nicole Powell both said that girls receive more dress code violations than boys.
Powell explained why, citing crop tops as the number one violation from female students.
“We notice girls’ violations more because they stand out more when they are revealing more skin” said Ms. Powell. “With girls I think we look at how females expose themselves, and we notice and the trends now lean towards females exposing themselves more.”
Ms. Lyles explained a distinction in the dress code for boys, and said that “sagging pants are not a violation but when showing underwear it is. Pants are supposed to be worn with a belt.”
The enforcement of the dress code has also been questioned. Some students said they feel like the dress code is being enforced too harshly. Freshman Kyala Poole mentions “I have seen a lot of violations so far and I kind of think they’re being extreme with the violations.”
Senior Eva Kubi has a different view. “I don’t think they really enforce it. I’ve been here for a while and have only seen one person wear a highlighter green shirt in 4 years.”
This could be because many administrators said they give warnings before giving out shirts. Ms. Powell and Ms. Lyles both said they warn students to cover up before giving out violator shirts.
Most students would just like their voices to be heard and their opinions accounted for in the dress code debate. Junior Crystal Omade suggests “I think that if you modify it to benefit the students that would be better.”
