You are walking through the hallway, minding your own business, it has been a little chilly outside; so you are wearing your favorite brown jacket. The jacket you know is out of dress code. But the dress code has never really been enforced for jackets, unless somebody is walking around wearing a mink fur coat. You figure you will not have any problems with administration. Wrong.
The administration is cracking down on out of dress code jackets. Any jackets that are not solid white or navy are being confiscated. The consequence is they are only returned directly to parents or guardians. Although there have been some complaints from students that have had their jackets taken up, most of the students have been compliant with the “new” rule because they knew they were wrong. These jackets have never been in dress code and this is not a new policy just stronger enforcement of a policy that has always been in place.
Yes, the dress code seems unfashionable in the winter time. Yes, it is really annoying to have to go shopping and find a plain white or navy jacket. Yes, your out of dress code jacket probably isn’t a danger to yourself or society. But bottom line, the jacket is out of dress code and it is the administration’s job to enforce that dress code.
Principal Elijah Granger said the administration wants to send a strong message to students that being out of dress code is not an option. He said students need to be in compliance with the policy and parents need to know what the rules are. The recent confiscation of jackets will send a message to both the student and their parents.
By confiscating the jackets the pressure is off the teachers to watch each jacket entering their classroom. It is not the job of the teacher to inspect every jacket. It is the responsibility of the students to not wear the jacket they know is out of dress code anyway. If you can not then administration should take it away.
The dress code is what it is. We can’t change it. All we can do is follow it. By all means, if it is 15 degrees outside, wear a jacket. But then take it off while inside the building.
