Parents Say Troy's New Dress Code Too Confusing

Every day since school started, Vicki McWherter says, she and her sixth-grader face a morning quandary waiting in the closet.

What to wear that meets Troy Community Consolidated School District 30-C's strict new dress code?

"We get up every morning and struggle with what to wear," McWherter said, speaking at the Wednesday night school board meeting. "I wish we would have gone with uniforms now."

Just a few weeks into the school year, frustration with the new dress code is drawing parents to board meetings with complaints. Board member Eileen Roche-Kopchak and Supt. Don White said they have had a lot of feedback from parents having problems with the code.

The new rules ban popular fashion staples such as shirts with statements on them, skinny jeans, flip-flops and tinted hair highlights.

"It's confusing," parent Amy Modzelewski said. "They get in trouble for skinny jeans, go into the bathroom, roll them up and they've got capris, and that's OK."

Modzelewski said she is having a tough time finding shirts without wording on them for her first- and third-graders. She worries whether teachers and principals are enforcing the new code consistently in all of the schools and questioned the decision-making process that led to the new dress code.

"As a parent, you've made it very difficult for us," she said. "I can't just go to Target or Wal-Mart and find shirts my kids can wear to school."

The district held a series of parent forums last year as it weighed whether to adopt a school uniform policy or to draft a meticulous new dress code. The uniforms would have been polo shirts and khaki trousers.

 Parent input was about evenly split, White said. Administrators thought a tougher dress code was in order because the district has a "desire to set a certain standard," he said.

Those standards permit garments with a brand logo like the Nike "swoosh," But not the marketing logo "Just do it." Clothing can't have "any negative or questionable connotations or messages," the code says.

Modzelewski, a teacher herself, doesn't see anything wrong with inspirational messages like "Born to Compete."  She asked if so many kids were wearing clothing with objectionable wording that it was necessary to make rules affecting the entire student body. She said the code unfairly burdens families who may be hard-pressed to buy new clothing that will comply with the new rules.

"There's a fine line of judgment between what is an appropriate statement and one that is not appropriate," White said. "We made the decision just not to have any statements."

White said he is working with school principals to see that they impose the new rules consistently. Administrators say a child's appearance reflects his or her preparation for learning, self-discipline and respect for others. The new dress code is designed to limit distractions, peer pressure, and encourage modesty, according to information on the school Web site.

McWherter opposed the school uniform plan, but now she's changed her mind, she said.

"It would have been a lot easier just to go to Target and buy five polo's and five pairs of khakis than to try to figure out what we can buy," she said. 

You can check out the dress code at http://co.troy30c.org/images/stories/Documents/dresscodefaq.pdf.