During the School-Based Decision Making (SBDM) meeting yesterday, council members unanimously voted in favor of enforcing the dress code policy that prohibits form-fitting clothing such as leggings, yoga pants, and spandex.
In the past, form-fitting clothing was prohibited but students were often unaware of this and the rule was not heavily enforced until now. However, it is still acceptable to wear form-fitting pants as long as they are covered by another non-form-fitting garment such as shorts or a skirt that reaches fingertip length.
“It falls under being clothing revealing in nature,” Mr. Tim Holman said in yesterday’s meeting. “They are entirely form-fitting.”
Principal Wooldridge sent an e-mail to parents to remind them of the dress code policy and advised teachers to write a referral for a student not in dress code.
“There’s an interpretation when it comes to dress code, but it stated that form-fitting clothing is unacceptable, which is sometimes an issue,” Mr. Holman said.
The punishment for a dress code violation remains the same, which is a detention for the student after the first offense, followed by a parent conference for the second offense.
“I think there will be resistance, but people will adapt because it is a recent trend,” Mr. Holman said.
“The banning of leggings and yoga pants is probably the most ridiculous thing Manual has ever done,” Jordan Lee (10) said. “It’s obvious that the administrators only talked among themselves for this decision rather than listening to the thousands of kids at their school. Maybe instead of focusing on the material of our pants, they should focus on more important things.”
“I never thought that leggings were that much of a distraction to anybody, so I don’t think the ban is necessary. At the same time, I don’t wear them that often, so it doesn’t really affect me personally,” Amanda Tu (9) said.
“I don’t think the new rule is a good idea because at Manual they say they want us to express ourselves but this new rule is eliminating that,” Gabriell Victor (10) said.
Not all students believe the change is bad, however. “It’s just a rule and it’s not that hard to wear jeans or something else,” Shai-Ann Vera (10) said. “Like maybe real clothes.”
