School dress codes have relaxed a lot since the ’60s, when girls wearing pants or boys sporting shoulder-length hair often found themselves in the principal’s office. Now outside forces are prompting some schools to tighten the dress codes.
A desire to focus students’ attention on education rather than on who’s wearing what is one reason for the change. Others include economic relief for parents and students who can’t afford to keep up with well-dressed kids and a wish to see students in apparel deemed appropriate for school.
The primary concern of schools, however, is encroachment of gangs. Changing the dress code to prohibit gang colors and symbols is one of the first things school officials should do to fight gang activity, said Craig Chval, gang crimes unit supervisor of the Du Page County state’s attorney’s office.
“I think (gangs are) a very significant problem in Du Page County schools,” he said, though no one has any estimates of how many gang members there are. “It’s important for a community to take the stand that any gang activity will not be tolerated. The attitude far too often is that representation is no big deal, it’s copycat activity, and it doesn’t hurt anyone. But every bad gang situation in the county started that way.”
Some teens and pre-teens wear gang-related clothing just to look cool, while others frequently and unwittingly wear colors associated with a gang out of personal taste. “Certainly not every kid you see wearing a Bulls jacket or a Raiders cap is a gang member,” Chval said, noting that gangs often use professional sports logos as their emblems.
While changing dress codes sends a message to students that gang activity is not acceptable, it won’t keep gangs out of the schools, Chval said.
“It’s extremely frustrating to try to restrict gang representation,” added detective Russell Schecht, the Addison Police Department’s gang crimes specialist. “They’ll always find a way to represent (their gang), no matter what you do in terms of dress codes.” But it’s worth it, he said, because some kids will listen to the message and stay clear of gangs.
Glenbard High School District 87 tightened its dress code last year, banning gang colors and symbols, all jackets worn in classrooms, oversized clothes and clothes purposely worn unfastened, all ways in which members represent their gangs.
“We’re taking a stance before we see blatant gang representation,” said David Wolfe, assistant principal at Glenbard East High School.
Officials at District 88’s Addison Trail High School recently banned wearing hats and coats in classrooms to prevent gang representation, said dean Beverly Panagiotaros. Addison Trail’s dress code for several years has tacitly prohibited gang clothes, under the provision concerning clothes that promote weapons, obscenity and immoral acts, she said.
“From one perspective, rock concert T-shirts and other clothes like that are innocent-they’re just advertising-but they conflict with our codes because they disrupt the learning atmosphere in the school,” Panagiotaros said.
However, “dress code violations are the situations we deal with the least,” she said, adding that students tend to support the dress code because the Student Advisory Council helps review and change it every year.
Addison Trail senior Mary Kostopoulos, SAC co-chairwoman, said most students accept the dress code because it doesn’t conflict with what they would normally wear.
But Kostopoulos added that officials’ concerns about gang encroachment at Addison Trail are groundless.
“It may be a problem in the inner-city schools, but not at AT. If they built a dress code around keeping the gangs out, I would laugh,” she said.
Hinsdale Central sophomore Brad Goebbert isn’t laughing.
“I can see why they’d want to have a dress code against gangs, even though it’s not a big problem here,” he said. “At lunch, there’s always one table with kids dressed like gang members. Maybe one or two of them are actually in a gang, but the rest dress like that just to look cool.”
“Our biggest problem is kids wearing graffiti on T-shirts,” said Hinsdale Central dean David Lawson. The school’s gang policy, which includes dress prohibitions, requires officials to contact parents if their children show multiple signs of gang activity.
“There’s a real fine line between the gang wannabes and the kids who are just caught in the latest fads,” Lawson said.
School District 48, which covers Villa Park, Oakbrook Terrace and parts of Elmhurst, added anti-gang strictures to its dress code in October, even though no instances of students wearing gang-related clothes have been reported in the district, said Ralph Renno, assistant principal of Albright Middle School in Villa Park.
“The only reason we have a dress code is that the parents requested it about seven or eight years ago,” Renno said. “They didn’t want to have to tell their child not to wear objectional clothes, but if they can say we won’t let them come to school wearing those clothes, they can make us the bad guys.”
Albright officials are more concerned that students do not sport offensive T-shirts, heavy makeup, bare midriffs or short shorts in school, Renno said. They recently lifted a ban on wearing shorts during the winter as long as the shorts reach at least to mid-thigh, he said.
Shorts are also starting to appear in parochial schools that require students to wear uniforms. Immaculate Conception High School in Elmhurst began allowing students to wear navy blue dress shorts in May and September last year, said dean Pam Levar.
“The dress shorts are a nice addition,” said Immaculate Conception senior Suzanne Inzerillo, Student Council president. “We don’t have air conditioning at IC, so not being able to wear shorts was a problem.”
Immaculate Conception began requiring uniforms six years ago after extensive debate among officials, students and parents, Levar recalled.
Boys at Immaculate Conception must wear navy or gray slacks, a white or blue oxford cloth shirt and dark shoes. Girls must wear a white or blue oxford cloth shirt, a plaid skirt and dark shoes. Both sexes can also wear gray, navy or maroon sweaters. The clothes must come from a uniform store selected by the school.
“Sometimes it’s difficult for students to make good choices, especially in how they dress,” Levar said. “The more you relax a dress code, the more doors you open and the more inappropriate the dress becomes.”
Inzerillo, who attended a Lutheran grade school that did not have uniforms, said the requirement gives her more freedom, not less.
“I like the uniform because when I wake up I don’t have to worry about what to wear. I can just throw on the uniform and go out the door,” she said. “Also, nobody gets laughed at because of their clothes because we all look the same.”
Immaculate Conception parents also find the uniform convenient.
“I love it and I think my son likes it, too,” said Cheryl Kiczenski, president of the Parent-Teacher Association. Students have diverse social and economic backgrounds, she said, “and it takes a lot of pressure off the kids because they don’t have to wear the latest fashions.”
Kiczenski added that it would probably cost an extra $400 a year to buy her son clothes for a public school. “We don’t want the students to feel like cookie-cutter kids,” she said, “but my son has the ability to express who he is in other areas of his life.”
While officials at several area public schools have considered requiring uniforms, no one seems eager to break the ice.
“We discussed having uniforms three years ago, but we got a very realistic comment: You can put a uniform on students, but if they really want to represent (a gang affiliation), they will find a way to represent with the uniform,” said Addison Trail’s Panagiotaros. “Kids like the opportunity to be individuals, and that’s healthy, too.”
Wheaton-Warrenville South junior Kasey Klaas wore a uniform when he attended St. Petronilla Elementary School in Glen Ellyn. While he enjoyed the convenience and lack of pressure the uniform policy gave him then, he said he wouldn’t like to see uniforms required at Wheaton-Warrenville.
“It is kind of important to express yourself. I like wearing my team jerseys to show I’m on the football and basketball teams because I’m proud to be on the teams,” Klaas said. “Kids should have the right to wear whatever they want as long as they’re not disrupting class with their clothes.”
