Lyla Thomas

Senior Miley Moser was upset with the new dress code changes. “The first day I walk in, and I am excited because it is my senior year, but I am told that I cannot wear most of my clothing, and I wasted all my money I had because I just went back to school shopping”

Imagine a student waking up in the morning and getting ready for school. They rub the sleep out of their eyes and let out a loud yawn before rifling through their clothes drawers. The student pulls on their favorite shirt that has now become soft and faded due to years of use. The student brushes their hands along the soft material, feeling the literal and metaphorical comfort it brings. They feel good. They feel confident. They feel ready to tackle the day. 

Now, that same student walks into school wearing that same shirt. In an instant, their light-hearted demeanor is shattered by a simple statement, “dress code violation. Please find a different outfit choice.” The student is left walking down the hallway to the office where they fumble through the lost and found box to find some sort of hoodie or t-shirt that can replace their favorite shirt. 

The student is left embarrassed, ashamed, and above all, confused. They simply can’t wrap their head around the fact that their favorite shirt rides up ever so slightly when they raise their arms. This sliver of skin sucked away their sunny demeanor. 

This is exactly what Melanie Marshall felt like when she was dress coded. 

This year, the Stockbridge High School made a new change in the student handbook regarding the dress code. Previously the dress code used to be “Shirts and dresses must have fabric in the front, back, and on the sides”. Now the current dress code reads, “Shirts and dresses must have fabric in the front, back, shoulders and on the sides to the pant/skirt line”. Even though the Stockbridge administrators believe that this dress code is going to be helpful, several students, especially girls, disagree. 

Sophomore Bella Glenn thinks that it’s fine to have a dress code but she thinks that the most recent updates to the dress code target girls, which is unfair. 

“Administrators say they are making the code more uniform, meaning more consistent, but then only applying it to women is not making it consistent,” Glenn said. 

Leadership senior Miley Moser also agrees with Glenn.

“I think it’s a way to express ourselves, and restricting girls on what they’re wearing makes them more uncomfortable and causes more slippages of the dress code,” Moser said. “Not being able to have a say in how to make the day more enjoyable for ourselves is kind of just crappy.”

Glenn agrees that the dress code doesn’t allow the students to express their individuality. 

“Teachers want us to wear clothes we feel comfortable in but when we try to express ourselves we get told we can’t wear it,” Glenn said. 

Though many students seem to be upset with the dress code, eighth grade English teacher, Hannah Gutsue, explained the changes were based on complaints of leadership students. All these changes were created by Stockbridge High School students in leadership, a class full of juniors and seniors, due to continuous complaints from teachers and community members.

Leadership teacher Corey Baird confirmed that every year he has a group of students that presents issues to the Board of Education. Last year, one of the issues that they addressed was the dress code. 

“First of all, they wanted to make sure that the dress code was consistently implemented for boys and girls,” Baird said. 

Consistency was not the only issue that the students had. Baird explained that the students were concerned with people not wearing enough, especially when it came to younger students. 

“There was a concern amongst a lot of students not trusting the younger students to follow the code in a way that wouldn’t be too distracting,” Baird said.

Principal Derek Douglas agrees that many students did not feel comfortable with the dress code. 

“There were also specific times where students were complaining about what somebody was wearing and they felt uncomfortable, but what that student was wearing was actually within the dress code we had previously,” Douglas said. 

Students were not the only ones who brought up concerns, Douglas explained that the staff as well as community members wanted a change. 

 “Complaints came from those who were concerned about what was permissible, as well as consistency,” Douglas said. 

Though it may seem students don’t want a dress code, teachers and administrators are just trying to make everything fair and keep all the students safe. 

As the new dress code has taken effect around the school, it seems that students and teachers are divided on what they find fitting. While some find these rules to be better than last years, others find it to be even worse and believe it was better before. 

Whether good or bad, this new dress code is a new stepping stone and together, students and teachers will have to raise their voices throughout the year in order to figure out if this dress code is what works best.