Danbury Middle Schools Adopt Dress Code, Not Uniforms

At last Wednesday's Board of Education meeting, the dress code/uniform decision was finally put to rest. The board picked a dress code over a uniform for Broadview and Rogers Park middle schools, and then set some standards for dress in those schools through their principals. The following changes will be instituted:

 No sneakers with wheelies, flip flops, or sandals that are open toe or open heel, or Adidas-like sandals. This was done for safety reasons. Shoes and sneakers must be worn in a manner that is safe.

 No short skirts or short pants, all must reach the length of fingertips. Midriffs must be covered. No cleavage. Shirts must have sleeves that cover shoulders, no tank tops, tube tops, or revealing necklines.

 Pants must reach the waist, no bra straps will be allowed to show and students must not wear t-shirts that display messages with inappropriate language, or drugs, alcohol, tobacco or violence.

 No hats, bandannas or sunglasses.

"Everyone, parents, teachers, kids, will all have to be educated.  We looked at what other schools are doing and made decisions about what will work," said School Superintendent Sal Pascarella, Ed.D.

 This is being reviewed now by the high school, which will most likely follow a similar dress code, said Irving Fox, board chairman.

According to School Board member Robert Taborsak, “The way it works, we now have a general policy that leaves the dress codes to the schools to enforce.  The board asked the two principals to come up with a dress code, and they adopted regulations, which they are putting into effect.  The regulations do not have to be approved by the board and no vote will be taken on it.”

 The Board requested that there be consequences for ignoring the dress code, but that no school time would be lost.  The first offense will result in a call home.  The second offense will result in a letter being sent home to assure parents know their child is ignoring the dress code, the third time will result in a lunch detention and the fourth will result in an after-school detention. There may be a decision that schools will provide t-shirts to students who come to school improperly dressed.

The new dress code is expected to satisfy many parents and students.  Brian Walsh, Citywide PTO President, said, “I think the dress code is the better way to go. It's always hard to enforce, but you can't go to uniforms without trying this first.  It will work best if the code is specifically defined, and there will be no question about what is inappropriate.”

 Christie Davis, whose eleven-year-old will attend Rogers Park Middle School next year, said, “I was looking forward to the uniforms. They are really going to have to police this, I think it's going to be harder on the teachers.  The uniforms would have made it way easier for the school to enforce."

"Having it defined will be better, my son will be happier about the dress code," said Davis. " I am glad it is going to be clearly defined.”

 Rusley Newbold has an eighth-grade-daughter at Rogers Park, and she said, “I was all for the uniforms. They are there to learn. I feel very strongly that the way they dress effects how people treat them.”

 Newbold hope that the codes will be enforced. “We received a slip of paper at the beginning of sixth and seventh grade, and it had a lot of this policy in there. But my daughter was sent home for wearing flannel pajama type pants, where another child wore Elmo pants the day before and he was not sent home. It has to be enforced for all.”

 Some think that the dress code will be easier to enforce because the students were more likely to rebel against  the uniforms. “Kids don't think twice about the dress code and they were really against the uniforms,” said Walsh. “Now they can still wear their own clothes and maintain their individuality. I like the idea that the office might give t-shirts to wear if kids come in inappropriately dressed. Put them in what's appropriate.”

 Taborsak was one of the board members who took a stand against the uniforms from the start. He said, “We have many more important issues to deal with, with the budget problems we had. One of the arguments against the uniforms was that it would save money, but others felt it would cost more.”

The Danbury middle schools adopted a dress code for September that outlines exactly what students can and cannot wear. The board decided at its last meeting to give the principals the responsibility for the details and enforcement.

In a previous meeting, the Board of Education had discussed the importance of students learning to dress appropriately and Taborsak then argued schools should not take over the role of parenting. “Students have to take some responsibility, and parents do, too.”

 According to Taborsak, all of the new dress code information will be in the school handbook, and Walsh said it will also be on the Citywide PTO website as well.

 Taborsak said, “It has been agreed upon, and we acted on what the two principals brainstormed. If they enforce it right off the bat, the kids will hopefully fall right in line with it.”