Atherton High School Relaxes Dress Code a Little

By DARLA CARTER, The Courier-Journal, August 24

Atherton High School has slightly relaxed its new dress code, which had drawn protests from some students and parents.

Students can now wear armbands, and buttons and shirts with slogans.

Also, the required white shirts no longer need to have button-down collars -- but still must have collars.

The dress code still says "no logos," but principal Fred Harbison said slogans would be handled on a case-by-case basis and that shirts printed with the statement "Unity not Uniformity" would be allowed. Some students have also been wearing armbands to protest the dress code.

Armbands and that slogan are expressions of free speech, according to an attorney consulted by the school, Harbison said.

The collar change was approved yesterday by the school's site-based decision-making council.

The dress code had limited students to solid white, long- or short-sleeved Oxford shirts with button-down collars.

Now they can wear solid white, long- or short-sleeved dress shirts in a cotton or cotton blend with a collar and buttons from top to bottom.

Kelly Burdick, 16, a junior, said he's glad for the small modification. "Nobody is declaring it a victory," he said, "but anything that makes it easier to go to class and stay in class is appreciated."

Council member Paula Goins, who is also a math teacher, said some students who were trying to comply with the dress-code policy had misunderstood what kind of shirt to buy.

"That's something we could easily fix," she said.

The council ignored a request by a parent, Sherry Long, to consider allowing parents to exempt their children from the dress code through an "opt out" policy.

"I fear that academic performance will decline from the obvious effects of lack of respect shown to the students in invading their very personal choice of dress," Long told the council. "I hope I'm wrong."

Goins said Long's request could not be considered because it wasn't on the special meeting's agenda. Goins said she isn't sure whether the council will consider an opt-out policy in the future.

Students and parents have been speaking out against the new dress code for months. A group of parents and students known as Atherton Community for Cooperation in Education held a rally Aug. 11 to encourage students to violate the dress code on the first day of school.

At least 80 of Atherton's more than 1,100 students broke the code when school started last Tuesday. Some of the students were sent home; others returned to school dressed properly, and still others were confined to the auditorium.

ACCE considers the school's decision to allow armbands and other items of self-expression to be a step in the right direction, said Carol Ely, an organizer and parent.

"It allows them to continue to declare that, even though they are complying because they wish to get an education, they still don't accept that this is the way it should be," Ely said.

Ely said ACCE will continue working through channels to abolish the dress code. That will include pushing for the election of new site-based council members this fall.

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