The biggest problem with school dress codes is not how strict or lax they are but that they exist at all, say members of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Educators generally institute dress codes for two reasons: to prevent gangs and to promote an atmosphere for learning. We think neither argument passes the 1st Amendment test,” said Valerie Phillips, Chicago-based ACLU public information director.
The first landmark legal decision on whether dress codes are allowable under the Constitution came in 1969 when the Des Moines Board of Education suspended several students for wearing black armbands in class to protest U.S. involvement in Vietnam, Phillips said. That case was decided in favor of the students.
In the latest landmark case, Jeglan vs. San Jacinto Unified School District in California, the court ruled last year that a public school district can’t forbid students to wear sports-related clothes to class, she added.
In between, judges have ruled both ways on cases involving dress codes. “The 7th Circuit (the federal court district covering Illinois) has gone a lot of ways on this issue,” Phillips said.
Officials at Albright Middle School in Villa Park don’t strictly enforce that school’s dress code because they don’t think they could win a court case, said assistant principal Ralph Renno.
“If a parent were to challenge us, I don’t think saying that heavy makeup and shorts aren’t appropriate for school would hold up in court,” he said.
If dress codes aren’t constitutional, they should be, protests William Watts, principal of Taft High School in Chicago.
“Most adults have to come to work in the proper uniform, ready to work, or they forgo their paycheck and benefits. Schools should work the same way,” he said.
And Wheaton-Warrenville South junior Kasey Klaas said he doesn’t think his school’s dress code is worth challenging in a courtroom.
“We’re not going to school for a fashion show; we’re going to get an education,” he said. “The ACLU should concentrate on … important stuff rather than what clothes kids can wear to school.”
