Judge hunts for compromise on school dress

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2004 | 9:52 a.m.

Kim Jacobs and her father refused a suggestion from a federal judge that would allow Jacobs to go back to school pending a Nov. 18 School Board meeting as long as she followed the school dress code in the interim.

"I'm not going to comply with something that I don't agree with," said Jacobs, who was thrown out of Liberty High School in September after showing up in shirts bearing quotations from the Book of Mormon. "I want to be able to express myself. If I want to wear a green shirt, I should be able to.

"If I want to wear a T-shirt that states my religion, I should be able to."

Jacobs, her father, and Allen Lichtenstein, attorney for the Nevada Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, asked U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt Tuesday to file an injunction to allow Jacobs back to school. Hunt did not immediately rule on the motion and will file a written order.

Hunt said he was trying to come up with a compromise that would get Jacobs, 17, back in school, while at the same time not causing a disruption because of one student being allowed to wear something other than the school-regulated uniform of khaki pants with a solid red, white or blue shirt.

The idea stemmed from the upcoming meeting of the School Board, scheduled for Nov. 18, when the board will consider requiring principals to get support from parents before instituting dress code policies that are more strict than districtwide regulations.

The change, if accepted, could allow for an opt-out option for the remainder of the school year for students at schools such as Liberty, where parents were not officially consulted by school administrators on the uniform rules.

Gary Peck, executive director of the Nevada ACLU, said that he hopes and expects a speedy decision on the request for a preliminary injunction because Jacobs has been out of school since September.

"For Kim this is about principle, and principle matters to her," Peck said. "The class time that she is losing each day adds to the irreparable harm already suffered and what it will take to make her whole."

Bill Hoffman, the School District's senior counsel, argued that the dress code at Liberty is a piece of a puzzle designed to create a better education environment for students.

"The dress code is content-neutral," Hoffman said. "There is no evidence that we're trying to stop religious statements. We don't care what the writing is.

"The rule is you can't have the writing because it detracts from the educational environment."

Lichtenstein argued that a blanket ban on messages on clothing is unconstitutional and that the school administration should look at each item to determine if it is detrimental to the educational environment instead of throwing everything out.

"A ban on all content is not considered content-neutral, it's censorship," Lichtenstein said.

Jacobs has been studying at home to try to keep up with the school work she has missed, but she said that it is difficult because she can only rely on the instructions in her text books.

She said she also has not been able to attend the labs for her photography class and that her father has had to pay to have her film developed.

Lichtenstein pointed out that the School District did not formally consult with parents, as required by district policy, about the dress code before instituting it.

During Hoffman's argument, he admitted that formal consultations with parents were not done prior to instituting the dress code at Liberty and other schools, but he said reports to the district from principals who have talked to parents about the dress code have been positive.

"They aren't supposed to institute these uniform policies without the parent surveys being done," Lichtenstein said. "Instead they are just making the changes if a principal wants to."