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Many trends have walked the halls at NS, but few have continued to push the dress code policy like the current ones. That paired with the newness of the administration and secretaries has made enforcing the dress code difficult to manage.
“I think part of it is because we are all new,” said attendance secretary Tori Hansen. “The kids think that since we are new, they can push their limits and see what they can get away with.”
With the dress code being one of many responsibilities for the administration, the teachers also carry the responsibility of enforcing the policy. However, addressing dress code violations can put the teachers in unfavorable situations.
“I think it is being enforced as much as it can,” said English teacher Landon Bailey. “It’s hard because the administration has so much to worry about so they can’t catch every single dress code violation. I know a lot of teachers don’t really want to get involved with it because it could be awkward as a male addressing a dress code violation on a female. I had that happen a couple years ago where a girl was wearing very low cut shirts, and I didn’t want to address it. I had one of the female teachers that was walking by come grab her and she came in and did it. It just felt weird.”
There have been some changes to procedure and policy with the dress code in recent years to make addressing the violations less uncomfortable for all involved.
“Some of the wording in the district policy was changed on how to measure length of shorts or skirts,” said assistant superintendent O’Dee Hansen. “That procedure on how to check for that used to be to have them kneel and we took that out completely. That was a concern so that was something that changed.”
Religion is just one of many things that shape how we view what is right, wrong or appropriate. In a community with a predominant religion, religious principles can influence the district policies that are made.
“I definitely think that when you look at who your stakeholders are, you have stakeholders like parents and community members that have certain beliefs that guide the way they vote, act, invest and how they interact,” said Hansen. “To say that it doesn’t guide it would be wrong. If you have people that believe a certain way, and there’s a vast majority of them, then that leads to policies, laws and things to fit that. The LDS religion is practiced and I’m sure that guides a lot of people’s decision making, values and what they think is right and wrong.”
Regardless of where the policies originate from, students like to push the boundaries. Some students are given many warnings and still choose to continue to break the dress code. One of the most prominent rules broken in the school is that no hats can be worn in the building.
“We usually just take the hat if it gets to be repeated,” said Tori Hansen. “We keep them until the end of the day and they can get it after school. With the clothing we usually just try to give warnings not to wear them again or wear something under them. This quarter, we have actually started making them call home.”
While some students are punished with a call home for a change of clothes after repeated offenses, for other students, there is no punishment given.
“There wasn’t any [consequence],” said Hunter Price of being dress-coded for wearing shorts that were too short. “I left and rolled my shorts down.”
If students continue to test the limits, they may receive harsher consequences.
“It’s going to get to the point where we have clothes on hand they can put on from the office if they want to continually break the dress code,” said Tori Hansen. “We’ll have some real ugly pants that they can put on that we will get to next year so they can learn. We just feel like we have given them lots of chances so now we need to kind of crack down.”
The desires of the students also have some influence on what the policy is.
“[Students] do have a good say, but they do not have the final say,” said O’Dee Hansen. “Students have great ideas and they are part of the school system. We survey students all the time because their input and their point of view is important.”
However, some students feel that they should have more of a say in the dress code policies that are made.
“[Dress code] shouldn’t be decided by the older generations,” said Price. “I think that they don’t really care as much as we do. They care enough to dress code us, but not to change it.”
Many students would be on board with a change in dress code, while those who enforce it are on the fence about it.
“Hats is another story, but the dress code I am good with,” said Tori Hansen. “I think the dress code is pretty standard. We have actually looked into it this year, and in all 3A schools in the state, we are pretty much spot on with everybody else as far as what they allow and don’t allow. If the policy is in place that there are no hats, we need to enforce the no hats. If we want to let them wear hats, then we need to change the policy. The problem with the hats is half the people enforce it and half of the people don’t.”
Other people think we are holding onto traditions and ways of thinking in regards to the dress code.
“I go back and forth on that one because I get it,” said Bailey. “It is like the old school tradition of showing respect, but who cares anymore? It also has always been the argument that we need to be able to see your face, but now we all have to wear masks. For some kids if they are here and the biggest problem we have with them is whether or not they are wearing a hat, we are doing pretty good. A lot of the kids we are dealing with wearing hats have way more issues than just wearing a hat. The fact that they are in class is a win.”
Dress code violations between boys and girls and boys can be treated differently.
“I think as a society we view certain things as being worse,” said Bailey. “We view a boy wearing a hat, which is a dress code violation, as not as bad as a girl wearing a super low shirt. They are both violations, and I don’t know why we view one as worse, maybe it is because we view things differently with girls and guys. We shouldn’t, but we do.”
Students have also noticed a difference in the consequences that boys and girls face when they violate the dress code.
“Some boys wear super short shorts and we can’t even wear holes in pants that high and they get away with it,” said Gracie Anderson.
What ultimately makes the dress code hard to enforce is the fact that not every student with violations is seen.
“The thing is we don’t see all five hundred kids every single day so kids get away with stuff because we can’t see it,” said Tori Hansen.“The boys and the short shorts are a lot easier to hide so I think they do get away with it a little more.”
Students and teachers feel that whatever the policy is enforcing it needs to be consistent.
“It needs to be fair both ways,” said Price. “It’s not fair when guys get to wear stuff that girls can’t.”
