While students complain the dress code policy is unfair following recent changes, administrators and faculty share the importance of professionalism in a work and academic environment. 

“We take the dress code very seriously,” assistant principal Kevin Wilson said. “Making sure everybody is following protocol helps everyone get their job done. It helps students learn, and it helps teachers teach.”

Some students do not agree with the faculty and admin on dress code policy, and some said it was unfair and selective.

“I have been dress coded, and I felt like I’ve been objectified in a way because the dress code is more targeted towards female students,” student Hannah Harris said. “I do not agree with the dress code because some things should be enforced while others are targeted toward specific groups. I feel like we should have freedom over what we wear.”

According to junior Sara Harris, the dress code also targets students of color disproportional to white students.

“I don’t think that the dress code is fair to students,” Harris said. “I think a certain type of student is always targeted, specifically females, even more specifically Black females. They’re seen as more provocative for wearing the same thing that somebody else might wear.”

Teachers agree with the administrators about the dress code policy, some say it impacts the academic environment

“I believe that dress code influences the academic environment,” geography teacher Robbyn Camp said. “As teachers, we must follow a dress code because we are in a professional setting, and this is our job. When students come to school, they are at their job too and should dress in a subtle way because again, they are at their job too.”

Along with Camp, world history teacher Sean McGarry said this kind of structure allows for standards across the board for all students and takes unnecessary tasks off teachers so they can focus on priorities.

“I think the dress code is necessary to maintain a sense of morals and ethics,” McGarry said. “It also makes things less to deal with, as a teacher. We don’t have to worry about as many distractions with the sagging and inappropriate clothing. We can just teach.”

Although she doesn’t have a solution for the issue with dress code, Harris said the police causes stress for female students trying to get their education.

“The average high schooler with a normal amount of common sense knows where to draw the line when it comes to what they wear,” Harris said. “It’s unfair to punish, for example, a girl with a low-cut top but not a man with a similar shirt just because she might have different body parts. As someone who has gone to a school with a uniform, it doesn’t really make a difference in your learning, it’s just a power thing.”