Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Schools

Code covers up younger kids

Clothes with references to drugs, gangs or sex are part of a tighter ban in Hillsborough.

By MELANIE AVE
Published July 12, 2005

TAMPA - Concerned about older kids' bad habits trickling down to the elementary set, school officials are tightening the dress code for the youngest pupils.

Spaghetti straps will be out. Midriff tops will be an absolute no-no.

And don't even think about letting the little ones leave home with their underwear peeking out from under their khakis or jeans.

Students in Hillsborough County public schools will have new dress code restrictions when classes resume Aug. 4. School Board members are set to approve changes to the district's dress code policy at their meeting tonight.

The biggest changes will be tougher clothing rules for children in elementary schools, from kindergarten through fifth grade. Restrictions on revealing clothing will mirror those already in place for middle and high schools.

Children will be able to wear a shirt with thin straps or a shirt that exposes the shoulder only if they wear another blouse on top of it. Shirts that show the torso will be prohibited.

A ban also will be in place for clothes or jewelry with any reference to drugs, gangs or sex.

"They're too young to wear that stuff anyway," said parent Michelle Rodriguez, while shopping at University Mall Monday. Her 10-year-old son goes to Crestwood Elementary.

Rodriguez said she's seen tiny girls wearing T-shirts with the words "Sexy" on the front and jeans with the word "Juicy" and "Bootylicious" scrawled across the back. She's seen other girls in tiny skirts and shorts.

"They look cute and everything but, geez," she said. "Now with sexual predators, they see a little girl dressed like that and it tempts them."

School district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said the rules were tightened to make them more uniform for all grade levels and to keep campuses on top of the dictates of the ever-changing world of style.

"Fashions for young girls have become more provocative," said Cobbe, adding that teachers and principals are being encouraged to enforce the dress code more strictly.

While the new code adds some tighter restrictions for elementary school students, it loosens others for older kids.

District administrators are recommending that board members delete a specific ban on thong sandals or flip-flop shoes. But house shoes, or slippers, will still be banned.

The new footwear rule simplesimply reads: "Shoes shall be worn."

The looser flip-flop rule does not apply to elementary-age children, who must have shoes that are "securely fastened to the feet."

Cobbe said older students will be able to wear dressy or decorative flip-flops - which had been banned because they were deemed a safety hazard. Shower-style flip-flops, in which the toe strap pops out, are still banned.

"Fashion has changed, and those types of shoes are fashionable," she said.

Principals must decide what shoes are allowed and what shoes are banned.

Parents of children who violate the dress code are called during a first offense. Later offenses can result in detention and possibly suspension.

The new flip-flop rule was a delightful nugget of news for 14-year-old Brelle Toussaint, who is entering ninth grade at Freedom High School. She strolled through the mall Monday in a pair of pink flip-flops, one of about 20 pairs she wears "like every day."

"I do my toenails and I like to show them off," she said. "I like air on my feet."

--Melanie Ave can be reached at 813 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 12, 2005, 01:25:07]