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Liberty board mulls changes in dress code
Board members are asking for parental input on the issue.
LIBERTY — School officials here are not trying to make students wear an official uniform, but those attending the schools may see changes in what is considered appropriate attire.
The school board is inviting parents and students to an informational meeting Thursday at the high school to discuss proposed changes to the dress code. Any changes will not take effect until the 2008-09 school year.
The school board has already listed the proposed new dress code on the district’s official Web site — www.liberty.k12.oh.us. The Web site also includes an area where parents and students can voice their concerns about the dress code to school officials.
Mark Lucas, superintendent of schools, said there is nothing drastic in the proposed changes. He said there are four basic areas that will be new to students.
Students will no longer be permitted to wear hoodies, flip-flop shoes or sweat pants. Clothing with lettering, words, cartoons or pictures will also not be allowed unless it contains the school logo or other school-related insignia.
“We are not looking at uniforms,” he said. “These are just changes in the dress code. There are really just a few basic areas of change.”
Lucas said streamlining the dress code in the school has been a topic of discussion over the past few years and officials feel it is time to make some changes.
“We want to keep the spirit, but basically clean things up a bit. One of the staff members called it ‘dressing for success,’” he said. “We are trying to make this a more safe and secure environment and at the same time clean up some of those things we see as dress code problems. There is no one major issue driving this.”
Once officials have nailed down an official dress code policy, the work of coming up with rules of enforcement will begin. Lucas said he expects to begin working on enforcement policies for students who don’t follow the new code sometime in May.
“We all feel that enforcement of a dress code is as important as having a dress code,” he said.
Lucas said he does not expect the entire district to be in agreement on the new dress code policies but said he and school board members are very much interested in hearing what the public thinks of the policy.
“We are quickly learning that if you have 50 people in a room, you will have 50 opinions on a dress code. If you have 100 people in a room, you will have 100 opinions on a dress code. I don’t think there will ever be 100 percent agreement,” he said.
jgoodwin@vindy.com