Liberty parents express concerns

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

The superintendent plans to have suggestions for a dress code by May.

LIBERTY — Students here will likely be under a new dress code next school year, but parents are voicing their concerns about the proposed policy now.

Dozens of parents, students and faculty met in the auditorium of the high school Thursday to discuss the proposed dress code. If approved the code would go into effect next school year.

Superintendent Mark Lucas said the district does not have an official dress code. He said there are policies on dress at the various schools, but no uniformed code.

Lucas said there are four basic areas in the proposed dress code 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.

Lucas said the district is not looking at a uniform, but more of a restricted dress code.

Some parents and supporters of the schools took issue with some of the restrictions being suggested.

Frederick Fritz Coombs, a representative of the Boy Scouts, questioned the restriction on clothes with words or pictures. He said many scouts do attend schools within the district and wear scout attire. The ban, he said, might limit a good thing like the Boy Scouts.

“We have some kids in the high school doing some really worthwhile stuff, and I guess my question is, do we really want to discourage that type of activity?” he asked.

Other parents said their kids like to wear clothing with harmless images such as Mickey Mouse and should not be restricted from doing so.

There also is the issue of cost.

Renee Mauk, who has two children attending school in the district, said some of the items being restricted are typically less costly than other items. She also said parents with more than one child who pass clothing between kids may be looking at spending a lot of money for new clothes.

Several parents said the success of whatever policy is put in place will come down to enforcement. They said the new code must be more closely enforced than the policies currently in place.

Theresa Comer, who has two kids in the school system, would like to see the same restrictions in dress enforced on teachers. She said there is little sense in having kids follow a dress code if teachers are not setting the example.

“Practice what you preach,” she said.

Lucas said the board of education and school administration will begin working on an enforcement policy as soon as the dress code has been decided.

Those attending the discussion brought other concerns to the attention of school administrators, like the temperature in the high school making it necessary to wear the hooded shirts. They also suggested that one code for elementary, middle school and the high school may not be appropriate. Virtually all in attendance, however, agreed that the dress code enforcement must start at home.

Clarence Boles spoke extensively about male students with hanging pants and female students with too much cleavage showing. These are issues, he said, that should be addressed at home, but too often parents of the students are dressed as inappropriately as their children.

Lucas said school officials are going to take time to digest all of the comments. He said he plans to have suggestions for a new code before the board of education members sometime in May.

jgoodwin@vindy.com