Several students at a DeKalb County high school want the district to rewrite its dress code policy, arguing that it unfairly targets girls and students of color.
Driving the news: At a Board of Education meeting Monday, students from Lakeside High School shared their own stories, as well as incidents of their peers who were “dress-coded” by teachers and administrators.
By the numbers: According to figures shared by sophomore Hannah Choi, while students of color make up about 70% of Lakeside’s population, they represent 80% of pupils disciplined.
- The female student population is less than 50%, but makes up about 70% of students who face reprimands for violating the code, Choi said.
State of play: DeKalb’s dress code, located within its Student Code of Conduct, bans clothing with rips or tears, requires all shirts to have sleeves and that clothing length has to meet the mid-thigh or lower, among other things. Clothing also has to cover undergarments, even when a student moves.
- Punishments for dress code violations can range from a verbal rebuke and in-school suspension on a first offense to additional ISS for subsequent offenses.
What they’re saying: Another Lakeside sophomore, Anna Katz, told board members when she was in third grade, she was called out for the first time for her outfit — Nike shorts and a t-shirt. She said an administrator pulled her aside and “asked me to put my hands at my side” to measure how long her shorts were.
- “It was humiliating,” she said. “From then on, I would constantly pull my shorts down in an attempt to meet the fingertip rule that was being enforced. I was in fear of being called out.”
Lakeside junior Marques Moreland told board members that dress codes are based on “the social aesthetic of middle-class America.”
- He said one Black female student told him she was offended that she would be targeted for her small rips in her jeans and tighter-fitting shirts.
- “The way clothing fits on female students of color may be different than how it…
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