Controversy surrounds Eastside dress code
An Eastside Elementary School attempt to ban sixth- through eighth-grade students from wearing athletic shorts was struck down by the school board Thursday night.
Eastside teachers and administrators told board members their efforts to ban the shorts and otherwise strengthen the school’s dress code were undertaken for safety and decorum issues.
According to principal Michael Trevathan, the athletic short issue heightened late last school year when the practice of “shanking” became popular with the school’s older students.
Shanking involves pulling down the often-loose and elastic-waisted shorts of another student. It also involves wearing the shorts low.
“It’s embarrassing and distracting,” said Trevathan. “We don’t want individuals manhandling other students.”
While agreeing shanking is not acceptable, school board members questioned the timing and the need for such measures.
Board member Larry Judkins said he felt the issue should have been addressed before the first day of school, when the dress code was distributed to students. By that time, he said, many parents had already bought all of their children’s school clothes for the year.
In response, Trevathan noted the shanking problem did not begin in earnest until after the school’s handbooks, which contain the dress code, had been sent to the printer in April.
Saying the specific measures were unnecessary, board member Mike Holland referred Trevathan and his teachers to the school board’s existing dress code policy – specifically the portion which bans clothes that are deemed a disturbing influence.
“You already have a policy to support you. Use it,” Holland said. He added not all students who wear the shorts wear them improperly.
The teachers on hand Thursday night, however, said they believed banning the shorts altogether would be a more effective means to achieving decorum, as well as student learning.
“If you have no shorts, you have no problem,” said eighth-grade teacher Jennifer Basham. She said monitoring student dress code “is a battle every day and it takes the joy out of teaching.”
Trevathan further noted that citing and suspending students for dress code violations takes precious time away from instruction and test preparation.
Board members, though, reiterated their stance that the problem is a matter of enforcement and voted to leave the dress code policy as is. They further urged to school to adopt more strict disciplinary measures.
“We think the policy is sufficient,” said Holland. “You have everything you need.”