OSD Revises Dress Code; Will Look at Further Changes

By Alyssa Schnugg
News Editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

The Oxford School District Board of Trustees voted Monday to revise its dated dress code policy that some say targeted certain groups, like female students.

According to OSD Superintendent Brian Harvey, the dress code policy was written about six or seven years ago when the district briefly considered going to uniforms.

“Nothing’s been done to it since,” he said Monday.

Harvey said recently teachers and administration have commented that the policy wasn’t being enforced and that some wording in the policy seemed to target certain groups.

“We needed to remove that,” he said. “We want our students to be dressed appropriately. But we don’t want to have to pull out measuring sticks and make students stand with their hands down at their sides. We want our principals to have the discretion and ability to enforce the policy.”

Harvey said there will be a committee formed, made up of students, teachers, administration and community members, to look more closely at the district’s dress policy; however, some changes needed to be made for this school year.

Those proposed changes were presented to the Board Monday and included removing excessive wording and phrases like, “To be acceptable, shorts and skirts must be hemmed and must extend beyond the fingertips when a student extends the arms down. Excessively baggy or excessively tight-fitting clothing is not permitted. Form-fitting clothing must be covered with garments of appropriate length,” and that was replaced with “All clothing must be of appropriate length and fit.”

Also removed were the statements, “Hair should be neat and clean and should not obstruct vision. Rollers, combs, and picks shall not be worn in the hair” and “Sagging pants worn below the waist are not allowed. Pajama pants are not allowed. Pants with writing across the seat are not allowed. Pants that drag the floor are not allowed. Clothing that exposes underclothing shall not be worn,” which is now replaced with, “Clothing considered and designed as underclothing shall not be worn as outside garments.”

The Board approved the changes unanimously.

“This is certainly a huge step in the right direction,” said board member Gray Edmondson.

Harvey said the committee should have a revised or new dress policy ready for review by April or May of this school year.

To view the entire revised dress code policy, visit: https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=45019763/.