by Madison Yates

On the first day of school, I walked in wearing an outfit that I wouldn’t usually wear. I was wearing a skirt, some heels, and a top that was a little cropped, but not too bad. I sat down in my first period class, ready to start off my junior year. The announcements came on and said the normal things like “welcome back” and “who’s ready for a new year?” and I was excited. And then Mrs. Duff said something that caught my attention.

“And remember ladies should keep their midriffs covered. No crop-tops.”

Did I hear that right? Ladies? Why just ladies? Why did she specify just us ladies? Why didn’t she say “Everyone should keep their midriffs covered”? I suddenly felt self-conscious. Was my outfit too revealing? This new outfit that made me feel confident and professional suddenly made me feel disgusted and anxious. Instead of being worried if I’d survive the day in heels, I was now worried if my midriff was a distraction to everyone.

The first school dress code law was established in 1969 by the U.S. Supreme Court during the Tinker v Des Moines case. The Supreme Court decided that schools are allowed to limit students' self-expression and decide if a certain dress is disruptive to the learning environment. Most school dress codes limit certain words/slang to be worn, hoods/hoodies, and the ever-disruptive crop top and spaghetti strap.

PRP’s dress code, according to the student handbook, is the following:

Acceptable Dress

• All shorts and skirts are as long as a closed fist when the student’s arm is extended to the side.

• Shirts have a strap

• All undergarments are covered

• Hats may be worn, but cannot obscure a student’s identity. Students' ears must be visible at all times unless for religious purposes.

• If masks are mandated to be worn, they must be worn and cover both the mouth and nose.

• Administration reserves the right to approve or not approve masks on an individual basis and use JCPS guidelines to make that decision.

Unacceptable Dress

• Rips or tears in the pants above the closed fist when the student’s arm is extended to the side

• Midriff exposed

• Hooded sweatshirts may be worn but students MAY NOT wear the hood up inside the school building or classrooms.

• Exposed undergarments

• Any apparel/accessory that features illegal or vulgar languages or images is NOT allowed

• Ski-mask and bandana-type masks may not be worn when mandated by JCPS or worn voluntarily.

At first glance, this seems like a pretty normal dress code with pretty fair rules. However, upon further inspection and when looking at how students are actually dress-coded, it gets a bit unfair. Most students, mainly girls, say that it’s targeted towards female students. While the dress code itself doesn’t specifically mention female students, it is mainly female students who get dress-coded.

Most of the girls I talked to said that they felt like the dress code was targeted towards them not because of what is written in it, but how it’s actually handled in the school building. Students said it feels very inconsistent with who and what they’re dress-coding people for. Some students will wear something that is clearly against dress code, and get nothing said to them, but someone who is barely breaking the dress code will get sent down to change.

Girls also say that getting dress-coded makes them feel less confident in themselves. An anonymous student said “It’s not good for us girls. You know a lot of girls don’t have confidence in themselves and their bodies. Most of these girls are insecure. I feel like them showing it off is good! I was showing my stomach and got dress-coded, which makes no sense ‘cause it’s just a stomach. Everyone’s got a stomach.” She also went on to say “I feel like us showing our stomach is not a big deal, it’s not like we’re showing, ya know, our booty cheeks or our boobs or anything like that.”

Hank Burns, a junior here at PRP, said “I’ve worn shorts sometimes that are like, very short that should be dress-coded, and nobody says anything about it. But like, somebody will show their shoulder (and get dress-coded). It’s very inconsistent.”

Hank also said, when asked if shoulders or midriffs actually distract the boys, “No. I mean I lift and I go to the gym. The girls in there wear what people should wear to the gym. Like stuff that’s easy to move around in, and that’s never distracted me….I’ve never cared.”

Kaitlyn Webb, a junior, said “I think this definitely has an effect deep in the back of our minds, because it’s like “why shouldn’t I show my stomach?” and ya know, what is wrong with our stomachs? I mean, I get if your whole butt’s out and all your boobs are out. But what is wrong with a little bit of torso? What is so offending about a little bit of torso?”

“Not fair to females at all,” said Damarco Turner, “they are more worried about the way their students dress than the education we should be getting.”

And that’s the way many students feel. They understand not wanting whole butts and boobs out, but they don’t understand why we can’t have the midriff out. So, we asked some teachers what they thought about the whole ordeal.

Mrs. Scott-Berger said “I think it’s good to see girls comfortable with their bodies and the dress code makes them think twice about how they look. So I don’t think that’s healthy.” and “I don’t think I’d have certain rules for girls or rules for boys. Just an overall dress code.”

Mr. Lawson said “Students were complaining about the dress code, and I asked “Why?” and most of it was from women and ladies and they said that the exposed midriff is the biggest concern. Some of them were expressing that they felt it was unfair toward girls.

I think the policy itself is fair, because it is for both girls and guys. If guys are going around showing parts of their body that are not supposed to be out or if they have clothes that are like that, we would tell them “no” too. So I think the policy itself is fair, but I would say that it does limit ladies' options more than men.”

While interviewing people, I heard them say that it does indeed limit what girls can wear. Crop tops are in style right now, so when you go out and get clothes, you’ll often only find cropped shirts. So that’s mostly what girls have in their closets.

Stinson commented and said “The biggest complaint that I’ve heard is that they didn’t know in time, so when they bought clothes for school, they got all the wrong clothes. But then again, the dress code has been the same for years. We’ve just been relaxing from enforcing it due to COVID.”

That I find a bit odd, because why should it take a global pandemic to get you to relax on what people are wearing? Also, the pandemic is still going on. It’s not like COVID isn’t a thing anymore. But anyways, girls didn’t get the right school clothes and now have nothing to wear. I can relate to that one. I got a bunch of new stuff that I can’t wear to school, and it sucks because I spent my own money on it.

Mrs. Webb said “There isn’t anything that I don’t agree with on the dress code. I think that the dress code is very straight-forward. I think It still allows students to show their individuality and their personality, all within staying in good taste

You shouldn’t be walking around with cleavage hanging out, short-shorts, and there is a place and a time to wear those particular outfits, but school is not one of them. We are trying to prepare students for the workforce. I don’t know any job, except for a few, that allows that particular dress.”

After hearing from students, teachers, and administrators, there was one opinion I was really curious about: our principal, Mrs. Duff.

Her interview ended up being the longest one I did, but she made some good points. When I asked what she initially thought about our dress code, she said “I think the dress code is very good for students. You know, part of our job here is not only academics, but also to prepare you with life skills. We’re an Academies of Louisville school, and we have certain pathways here that have expectations on what you wear.”

I then asked her what she thought about girls complaining about the dress code. She said “I usually start out by saying “that’s a really cute outfit” and it is perfect if you are going somewhere this weekend, but here we’re trying to emulate what would be a business world. That is not typical dress for corporate America.”

Now, I want to discuss something that caught my eye in the dress code. The last sentence in the dress code section reads:

“Students should demonstrate positive self-esteem and respect for themselves in their clothing.”

I asked Duff what she thought about this sentence and she said “Clothing is a reflection of who we are and we’re about. If I’m going to a job, I’m not going to be wearing something that has my bra straps hanging out or my belly hanging out. Again, we’re trying to help students understand the difference between what they can do on their own time and what you do in certain settings. And so, sometimes you have to teach people about a certain type of respect.”

I think, personally, that students should be able to wear what they want as long as certain parts aren’t hanging out. I understand that school is preparing us for the business world, however, this isn’t the business world. This is a building full of teenagers who are still trying to figure themselves out, and clothing is a part of that journey. We should obviously have limitations, but we shouldn't try to stifle the most important time in figuring ourselves out.

I want to be able to go to school and focus on my education, rather than worry if my clothing is a distraction to the people around me.