Board gives ‘student attire’ plan tentative OK

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2004 | 11:17 a.m.

Denim could be back. Stripes are still out. And baggy pants are definitely a no-no.

What sounds like a fashion forecast is actually the proposed new "standard student attire" regulation given tentative approval Monday by the Clark County School Board. The regulation, which must go through a second, final vote Nov. 18, would allow individual schools to set dress code requirements more strict than the general district-wide regulation, provided certain conditions were met.

"We need to finish this, move on and get back to the business of educating kids," said School Board President Susan Brager-Wellman.

The version of Regulation 5131 approved by the School Board Monday departed from the proposal drafted by district staff on several key points:

Monday's vote was a continuation of the Oct. 14 School Board meeting, at which more than three hours was devoted to public comment and discussion of the proposed changes.

The regulation draft was approved on a 4-1 vote with Brager-Wellman, Sheila Moulton, Ruth Johnson and School Board Vice President Larry Mason in support of the changes. Mary Beth Scow voted against the regulation, saying she didn't want denim allowed. Denise Brodsky and Shirley Barber were absent.

The draft was hammered out "in the spirit of compromise," Moulton said.

Moulton noted that Mason, who has vehemently opposed the mandatory uniform policy and the stricter dress code, should be commended for his willingness to seek middle ground.

"Mr. Mason has 'come a long way, baby,' " Moulton said, drawing laughter from her colleagues on the board and from the more than two dozen people in the audience.

And Moulton said it was in that spirit that she was supporting Mason's motion to allow denim at both the elementary and middle school levels, even though Moulton preferred that the fabric be limited to the younger grades.

The surveys, which would have to include "pros and cons" of stricter dress codes as well as a list of the proposed attire, would be handled by the district's central accountability office and would be conducted every four years.

Some parents left Monday's meeting dissatisfied, saying there are still unresolved issues related to the dress code that the School Board has not considered.

Don Jacobs, whose daughter has missed 25 days of the first quarter of the academic year because he has refused to comply with Liberty High School's "standard school attire," said he wants to know if the "opt out" option will be retroactive.

Even if his daughter's transcripts are wiped clean she will have still missed a significant number of classes, Jacobs said.

"There's no way to give her back that instructional time with the actual teacher," Jacobs said.

Officials for the Nevada ACLU have said they plan to file a lawsuit on behalf of Jacobs and his daughter, Liberty junior Kim Jacobs.

Maribeth Lewis, a parent who created a Web site to track comments from community members about the dress code debate, said she was frustrated that the concerns and recommendations shared by parents at a recent workshop appeared to be largely ignored.

The version approved by the School Board also fails to address a "major flaw" in the existing regulation, Lewis said.

" 'The school administration shall have the right to designate types of dress, fashion, fads or appearance disrupt or detract from the educational program and may be a potential safety hazard,' " said Lewis, reading from Regulation 5131. "That's the loophole that got us in this mess in the first place. There's nothing in what they (the School Board) just approved that stops principals from doing the exact same thing again."

John Barlow, principal of Del Sol High School, said he believed the proposed regulation was fair and feasible.

"Parents have the chance to have input and the four-year rule means the policy will have some stability behind it," Barlow said.