Creative Compliance = What you can legally get away with so far...

• Wear colored or black armbands. The Kentucky courts have ruled that the wearing of armbands as a form of political expression is a protected right of free speech of students (all other dress code rulings are from out of state - the School MUST recognize this). Students say: "This year we've got some pretty diverse armbands floating around, and it's great to see that people are wearing them pretty much everyday. Some kids are taking colorful ties (the einstein and neon fish ones come to mind) and using them as armbands. Some are using the old school green velt armbands. Some are using Armbands with political statements on them like "I hate my school" or "unity NOT uniformity." then there's the kids with the random colored armbands that add some diversity to these drab halls. Once again i urge you all to wear the armbands and keep wearing them. Wear them with pride."

• Wear political and religious items. These were banned on the first day until the JCPS lawyer showed up and told the administration that the students did have free speech rights after all. Wear political campaign buttons, other message buttons, and ACCE stickers on a regulation uniform. Order a polo shirt with a message printed on it - source on main ACCE page. Students say: I've seen kids wearing the ACCE stickers, "down with uniforms" stickers, "nike operates sweatshops worldwide and all i got was this lousy t-shirt" stickers, and monay more witty slogans. None of them are getting bothered about these stickers, so join in the fun kids! there's also a plethora of political buttons floating around as well, and once again no one is beoing bothered about those either. A couple patches have begun to appear pinned on uniform clothing as well declaring things such as "i hate my school", "education not indoctrination", "schools are not factories", the classical "i love dress codes and child pornography", and finally a patch that has the JCPS school system logo only the words "Public Schools" are crossed out and replaced with "Prison System." All kids are getting away with wearing these at the moment it seems, so let's keep it up."

• Wear jewelry with religious significance. The dress code policy prohibits "medallions or necklaces worn outside the uniform shirt." If this policy is enforced consistently, students will receive ISAP for wearing a cross or Star of David or similar items on a visible necklace or chain. However, so far this has not been enforced, though the SBDM mentioned it as an area of concern, their lawyer will probably advise against this (especially with the Mississippi case pending).

• Guys: wear skirts. Girls: wear long skirts. There are no gender restrictions in the code as written. There are restrictions against too short skirts, but nothing about too long.

• Full Cross-Dressing. Works better for guys - a few brave students have come in full drag, with stuffed bras, and makeup. Students say: " CROSS DRESSING IS IN: I've noticed between 5 and 15 different guys dressed in skirts. i encourage all other guys to purchase a compliant skirt and join these fine young lads, because a)they cannot say anything about it because they cannot discriminate on the basis of gender. b)it's hot outside, and wearing a skirt is just more comfortable."

• Replace your buttons. Students say: "Remember how the dress code says that you HAVE to have 2-5 buttons on a polo,or oxford? WEll, i've noticed that a couple people have replaced their original white buttons that the clothes came with, with bright, colorful ones. I've seen ones with the "have a nice day" happy face on them, HUGE bright red ones that stand out a whole lot, etc. this form of protest has my seal of approval."

• Hair! Although the uniform policy says that "Hair must be a natural color" it is silent on hair styles (another legacy of 60s era court rulings). Hair spray, anyone?

• Wear all black. After all, we're in mourning for the death of freedom at Atherton. (But some students feel that this is too reminiscent of Columbine.)

• Wear crazy socks or tights. They forgot socks in the dress code (it was dropped between the draft and final version). Students say: "This week i've seen some of the nuttiest socks imaginable. Mix-match 'em, tuck your pants into them, do anything to make them noticable!"

• Wear crazy shoes. Shoe regulations were also dropped between the draft and final versions, probably because of anticipated objections from parents. Students say: "I've seen some awesome things around dealing with shoes. There's a couple nuts running around that come to mind. there's the kid wearing the teal AQUA Socks as shoes, there's one of the cross-dressers who's wearing one cowboy boot and one tennis shoe, and there's talk of people making shoes entirely out of Duct Tape or Clear Tape. Join in the fun!"

• Face paint/Makeup. There is no rule about makup or face paint. Students say: "I was thinking of coming in school with black makeup over my eyes and mouth, making it look like I had one of those clown sad faces...maybe some people could come in with red/white/blue glitter or an american flag painted on their cheek?"

• Dye your skin. Students say: "This one is REALLY crazy, but surely they could do nothing about it! Take a bath in water dyed with food coloring! Make your skin a tint of green or red or blue or yellow! I'm not sure, but tell me if I'm wrong that that would be perfectly legal on grounds of skin color?

• Use your backpack as a billboard for your beliefs. Until they ban backpacks, of course - that's next. Students say: "No where does it say anything about regulations on backpacks (yet anyways), so i suggest that people get creative with their backpacks while they still can. i've seen the perfect example of this already with some guy taking an old pizza carrying bag and painting a big anarchist flag on the side of it and adding a strap. Follow his lead and just go nuts. Just make sure there's no noticable vulgarity, that's pretty much all that they can get you for at this moment."

  One student suggests: "Some ideas that no one has tried yet that i know of that we need some adventurous souls to try:
  a) sewing multiple belts together to make one HUGE one and then sewing ridculously large belt loops on your pants
  b) wearing tap shoes
  c) wearing flippers as shoes (be sure to close the toe first ;)
  d) wearing floaties as armbands."

  Send all those great ideas to me, and I'll post them here.

  Return to main page.