School dress code legality challenged

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004 | 11:15 a.m.

A Liberty High School student was sent home Wednesday for wearing a T-shirt bearing a religious message -- a violation of the campus dress code policy.

The incident is poised to become a test case of the legality of the district's dress code regulation, which allows principals at individual schools to set stricter policies.

Liberty -- now in its second year -- was the first district campus to adopt "standard school attire," a stricter version of the existing dress code. Students at the school must wear khaki-colored pants and red, white or blue shirts. The shirts must be solid colors or the approved tops with the school's logo.

This year 27 schools are requiring students to follow dress code requirements that are stricter than the districtwide policy. While some parents and students say the dress codes have made it easier to shop and reduce competition to keep up with fads, others complain the restrictions infringe on self-expression.

Kim Jacobs, a junior in her first year at Liberty, was wearing a white T-shirt with inch-high blue lettering across the back. The message, taken from the Book of Mormon, read "If all men were like unto Moroni the very powers of hell would be shaken forever."

Moroni is a prophet from the Book of Mormon, the central text used by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Donald Jacobs said he was called at 10:30 a.m. to pick up his daughter after she refused to change from her shirt into a T-shirt provided by the dean's office.

Jacobs, who spoke at the Aug. 26 School Board meeting in opposition to the "standard school attire" policy, said he wasn't surprised by the phone call.

"I've been waiting for this," said Jacobs, who added his daughter has intentionally not complied with the school's dress code since classes began Aug. 30. "I'm sticking by my guns. They do not have the right to force my daughter at a public school to wear a uniform."

Principal Emilio Fernandez defended the dress code at the Bermuda Road campus.

"This is an educational setting where we emphasize classical studies and creating a family from Day One," Fernandez said. "I'm not interested in dictating to anyone. Our requirements are about showing respect for your school and yourself."

District officials contend "standard school attire" is not a uniform policy and is allowable under existing regulations that give principals authority to ban certain types of clothing.

Allen Lichtenstein, attorney for the Nevada ACLU, said Donald and Kim Jacobs would have a strong case if they chose to pursue action against the district.

"The Supreme Court has said very clearly that messages on attire cannot be censored unless they are disruptive," Lichtenstein said. "Now we have someone going to school, exercising their constitutional rights and getting thrown out for doing so -- in clear violation of what the courts have upheld."

Dress code violations are treated the same as any other violations of school policy, Fernandez said. Students are given a warning, which is followed by a required parent conference, and repeat offenses could lead to a suspension. Jacobs has had only a parent conference so far, he said.

Fernandez said if the family sought a variance to go to another school, he would grant it.

Clark County School Board President Susan Brager-Wellman said Wednesday while she respects Donald Jacobs' position, there has been little dissent from the campus community at Liberty.

"It seems the majority of the school is following the policy and doing exceptionally well," Brager-Wellman said. "This may be a situation when a variance is appropriate and parents are always free to investigate all available avenues."

Kim said she didn't want people to get the idea that her protest of the school's dress code was about religion.

"This isn't about the church," Kim said. "This is about the First Amendment and one person's individual right to self expression."

Fernandez added that the religious nature of the shirt had no bearing on his decision.

"Our rules say solid colors -- red, white and blue," he said. "Even if a T-shirt says, 'Fernandez is the best principal in the world,' it has to go."

As for today, Kim planned to arrive at school wearing blue jeans and another T-shirt with a religious message, a decision her father said he supports.

"We talked about it and I told her there are times when you gotta take your bruises to do what's right," Jacobs said. "If our forefathers had given up that fast, where would be? Saying, 'Long live the queen,' that's where."