Don’t Mind My Shoulders: Students and teachers view East’s Dress Code as unclear, and believe girls are often singled out by the regulations, leading to uncomfortable situations

Seeking modifications to outdated and unfair dress codes, student-led protests have rippled across the country along with discussions rising in the East community. While some believe dress codes are unjust and limiting to self-expression, others view the dress code as inadequate in enforcing any regulations at all. 

East’s current dress code, adopted Nov. 24, 2014, is found under the “Student Dress and Personal Appearance” section of the SME Code of Conduct. Chains, clothing depicting gangs, illegal substances or alcoholic beverages are among the attire explicitly prohibited in the document. Most predominately stated is the guideline that clothing must be “considered learning outfits” and “conducive to learning.” Regulations like shorts length and tank top strap width are left unspecified. Although it’s advised to not appear “vulgar” or “indecent,” it’s never told what exactly this implies, leaving it up to the discretion of each teacher. 

So what qualifies as a “learning outfit”? With no specification of what this really means, students find themselves unsure of what may be perceived as appropriate or not, leaving it up for interpretation, which can cause awkward situations.

In an Instagram poll of 192 East students and community members, 78% consider East’s dress code to be an unclear gray area with a fine line between enforcing school professionalism and inappropriately targeting students. 

Senior Estelle Gordon is familiar with the uncomfortable situations dress codes can create for students. Sitting in class wearing a button-down blouse with the top two buttons left open, Gorden noticed her eighth grade male teacher had been giving her up-and-down glances throughout the entirety of the class period. When she went up to ask him a question about the assignment, the looks intensified.

“Isn’t that top a little low?” the teacher said. 

Instantly flustered by the comment, Gordon managed to apologize and rush back to her desk, buttoning her blouse to the top. What she thought to be a “learning outfit” caused her to be called out in front of the class, and was the first experience that brought her attention to the flaws and vagueness of East’s dress code rules.

“School is supposed to be a safe space, and I think that’s the most uncomfortable I’ve ever felt,” Gordon said. “I was so distraught and so uncomfortable. It just really bothered me because I felt like I was being looked at in [the] wrong way.”

Senior Lilly Rogers dealt with a similar situation at Indian Hills Middle School, when called out by her principal in the hallway for an exposed bra strap while wearing an IHMS Knights tank top — provided by the school itself.

“It was just weird having my principal come up to me [to say something] like, ‘your bra strap’s showing,’ and I was like 12,” Rogers said. 

Though the current dress code makes it unclear as to when staff members can actually cite a violation for students, it’s the snide comments and stares that create more of a distraction than any outfit, according to Gordon. 

“That stuff is insanely creepy, and honestly, if we’re talking about ‘learning environments,’ [those comments] disrupt mine,” Gordon said. 

Concerns about exposed midriffs, shoulders and cleavage are generally geared towards feminine clothing, causing 94% of students, teachers and parents in an Instagram poll of 271 votes, both male and female, to agree that girls tend to be targeted more by dress code regulations.

The SMSD dress code doesn’t directly call out one gender against the other, but it can be implied that certain parts reference women, according to senior Bella Wolfe. She recently experienced an uncomfortable discussion with an East teacher and has since been motivated to research and find flaws within East’s dress code that single out women over men. One section focuses on how “learning outfits” must be different from “evening wear” or an outfit worn to an “exercise class.”

However, Wolfe points out that on game days for boys sports teams, male students wear suits and outfits equal to what they’d wear to a school dance, or an “evening” event. But if the girls were to follow, it could potentially be handled differently. 

“You’re not going to just point out a guy for wearing a suit or for wearing shorts and a T-shirt,” Wolfe said. “But the minute a girl puts on a tight dress or maybe a top like you’re going to exercise class, they will.”

Wolfe believes the root of all dress code issues is the idea that bodies are inherently sexual and distracting, something that shouldn’t be engrained in the minds of high schoolers. According to Wolfe, it’s important for students to be taught that a body is normal and human, and shouldn’t be considered a distraction.

“If we didn’t consider students’ bodies to be at all inherently sexual, there won’t be a dress code because there won’t be an issue,” Wolfe said. “An everyday piece of clothing shouldn’t be [distracting.] You should be able to control your opinions and thoughts about what I’m wearing and keep them to yourself. I think that’s what’s hard — there’s no boundary to where this ends.”

Wolfe thinks it shouldn’t matter what a teacher, peer or anyone else thinks of a student’s clothing. If they’re comfortable and confident, no one should have anything to say about it. Wolfe explains that high school students already face daily judgements and body conscious issues, which are only worsened by concern about how teachers perceive them. 

“To have to come into school and also be worried about [what I’m wearing], not only just by my peers, but teachers who are going to be judging me or having thoughts on what I’m wearing is just exhausting,” Wolfe said. 

Choir director Ken Foley has had outspoken and open discussions with his students about his opinions on the dress code and how it’s handled at East. While Foley agrees that school should be a safe place allowing for freedom of expression, he believes the need for guidelines to maintain respect and a sense of professionalism in the school environment outweigh the relaxed attitude East has towards enforcing the dress code. 

“I think we’re just sort of getting numb to what we see all the time,” Foley said. “I think some things for school should be a little bit more appropriate. I know it’s a really tough issue, it’s a gray area right now.”

Though Assistant Principal Susan Leonard encourages teachers to address clothing concerns one-on-one with their students, if there’s something they perceive too big of a problem or distraction, they are to send that student to the office where administrators will then decide if the outfit violates the code in place. And according to Foley, nothing is done most of the time. 

“I can tell you what most teachers feel is like the administration isn’t doing it,” Foley said. “It’s not really up to us to police how we feel about it, but they’re not really enforcing it… we could send someone to the office and say ‘Hey they’re dressing inappropriately,’ but they’re just gonna come right back and say ‘Well no, we don’t feel that they are.’”

Science teacher Susan Hallstrom believes the school’s dress code and its enforcement are inadequate, and has almost given up on addressing violations herself. Due to the non-confrontational and hesitant approach taken by the vague code, Hallstrom believes it’s completely ineffective. 

“The district’s published dress code is so inadequate that, unless you’re wearing pot leaves or tequila shirts, there’s not much that’s out of bounds,” Hallstrom said. “They’ve made an ‘anything goes’ policy. Nothing will be done, there’s no consequences. Even if it’s making me uncomfortable, there’s nothing I can do. There’s a level of what is appropriate and what’s not, and I don’t think we should be afraid to say what that is.”

Foley also points out that as fashion trends change, so do the issues that arise with them. When he began teaching in the early ’90s, men with low pants used to get dress coded, while girls “conservatively” dressed in baggier, modest clothing had no problems. As trends shifted into the later ’90s with low-waisted pants and exposed midriffs, it was women who dealt with more dress code citations. As self-expression, individualism and feminism have become more important and prominent in society, teachers have seen an increase in more experimental and revealing clothing. 

“It’s just more of a sort of a freer time when people wear whatever they want and they don’t want to be told that it’s inappropriate,” Foley said. “I don’t know what’s appropriate. I know what I think is appropriate, but I’m not in charge. To be honest, I think the definition in the dress code is vague on purpose. It’s hard to sort of put it into a defined thing: learning outfit. I’m glad I don’t have to write policy because it’s really hard to go black and white.” 

The process of establishing a dress code is far from simple, according to Principal Jason Peres. Being district policy, it isn’t necessarily up to the individual school’s discretion how the dress code is handled. Changing it would require approval from the SMSD Board of Education, so updates are only made every few years. However, Leonard and Peres both balance acknowledging the dress code while still encouraging students to express themselves without feeling they’re viewed as a negative distraction.

“It’s always really bothered me because the language around it is always somehow ‘you are a distraction’ because of how much skin you’re showing,” Leonard said. “That said, I think there’s a place for a conversation, woman to woman, to say, ‘Listen, fair or unfair, these are the judgments someone might make about your outfit today.’ It’s important how you present yourself, but it’s such a tricky line because, I’m sorry that people judge your appearance, but I also know it’s true that they judge you by your appearance. We’ve got to teach that skill of knowing how to dress the part when it requires it.”

Debates continue over whether the importance of professionalism and modest clothing should valued over individualism and personal, or vice versa. However, students and teachers alike agree that if there’s going to be a dress code in place, it needs to be strictly defined and strictly enforced to remove doubt of what is and isn’t considered “a learning outfit,” and discrimination between genders and situations.

“It’s a double standard that’s enforced in society,” Wolfe said. “We come to school, which is supposed to be a safe place, somewhere to learn, somewhere to become a better person, and it’s still being shoved into our heads. You can’t pick and choose. You can’t tell one person something’s okay and another [it’s not.]”