A new dress code designed to keep gang trouble out of Maine Township High School East led to a different kind of confrontation Monday when police were called in to quell about 75 students protesting the change.
The code, which took effect this week, calls for students at the Park Ridge school to leave their hats, scarfs, sweatbands and jackets in school lockers upon their arrival. Even jackets and hats bearing the school`s mascots are prohibited.
School administrators, who concede that few Maine East students are gang members, say they took the step as a precaution to prevent an influx of gangs as they spread from city to suburbs.
”I want the kids to walk into our building in the morning and, if nothing else, to have an eight-hour period of not worrying about their safety and security,” explained Principal Carol Grenier.
But students, who are subject to suspensions for refusing to remove their coats and hats, say the ban infringes on their free speech rights and at the very least violates their freedom of expression during a time in their lives when individuality and social identity are important.
The school, to avoid discriminating against students who wear known gang attire such as leather jackets and hats emblazoned with names of sports teams, extended the ban to cover all outer wear.
”Everybody dresses to represent their certain clique, like a gang would. We wear college football and basketball hats, Nike shoes, but it doesn`t mean we`re in a gang,” said Dan Ashta, 16, a junior.
”I would hate to see everyone become conformists and dress the same way . . . Expressing yourself at this age represents free thinking and that`s what democracy is all about.”
Maine East enrolls 2,149 students from Park Ridge, Des Plaines, Niles, Morton Grove and Glenview. One of the most diverse schools in the suburbs, its population includes 49 ethnic groups coming from affluent to lower-income families.
Last week, an anonymous group of students posted announcements calling for the protest after hearing about the new policy, students said.
Monday`s protest lasted almost two hours, during which students congregated in front of the principal`s office, singing ”The Star-Spangled Banner” and chanting anti-school slogans.
Many of the protesters went to class, after administrators threatened to have them arrested. The remaining 40 or so went outside, where they were ordered off school grounds by police.
A 16-year-old boy was arrested by Park Ridge police on trespassing charges for allegedly refusing officers` demands to leave the grounds, authorities said. The boy and the others who refused to go to class were suspended for the day, school officials said.
The policy does not affect the other two high schools in the district, Maine South and Maine West.
Grenier said that while no gang violence has erupted at Maine East, school officials adopted the policy after identifying a few gang members, spotting graffiti and finding outsiders in the building.
”If you come in our building and you don`t belong, if you`re wearing a coat and hat you`re going to stick out,” Grenier said.
Similar concerns about gangs have prompted other schools to adopt clothing bans. Students at Evanston Township and Mundelein High Schools are barred from wearing outer garments in the buildings.
At Wheaton Central High School administrators have broadened their dress code, requiring students to wear ”clothes as they were intended to be worn,” said Evelyn Ennsmann, dean of students. ”If you wear bib overalls, you`re supposed to wear them with both straps, not one down and one up.”
Maine East officials, to appease the students, agreed to appoint a committee of students and teachers to review the policy. But Grenier said she will not be bound to the committee`s recommendations.
”A lot of students want the policy out,” said Steve Yesner, a 16-year-old junior who was among the protesters and who will serve on the
committee.
”But the best we can hope for is to have it modified. Everyone is not going to be 100 percent happy, but I think people will be less unhappy.”
