Dress Code Meeting

The purpose of this meeting is to make sure that the dress code at Hazen High School is crystal clear and that all voices are heard. We aim to achieve a new & more clear dress code that is equally fair to all parties involved. We are here to listen to everyone on their personal concerns, when it comes to the dress code. This is a safe space for everyone to voice their opinion. In order to create a safe environment for everyone involved, we will create ground rules and maintain order throughout the whole meeting.

Meeting Rules: These rules are meant to be followed by anyone who wishes to participate in this meeting, failing to meet these rules can result in removal from the meeting. These rules are intended to create a safe environment for all those involved.

1. Listen to others - Don't have side conversations when others are speaking, don't interrupt others when they are speaking, don't invalidate anyones POV.
2. Think before speaking - Although we would love to hear everyone's opinions, we must make sure that these opinions are not hateful towards any group of people, so be mindful of your words.
3. Attack the problem, not the person - Respectfully challenge the idea, not the person. Blame or judgment will get you further from a solution, not closer. Honest and constructive discussions are necessary to get the best results.

                                    The Current Hazen Dress Code

*Please take 10 minutes to look through our dress code and make edits as you go. These Edits could be anything from things you would like to add or things you want more clarification on. This will help us create a more clear dress code. It's important to know what the dress code is before making any changes.

Maintaining a productive learning environment and assuring the safety and well-being of all students are primary concerns of the Board. Student dress shall only be regulated when, in the judgment of school administrators, there is a reasonable expectation that:

• Clarify the definition of being dress coded
• Teachers are the ones dress coding, not just school administrators
• The current dress code isn’t really following the dress code 
• Don't make dress coding a big deal; just get to the point.
• Maintaining a safe environment
• If students feel uncomfortable, they should be able to call the person out

A. A health or safety hazard is presented by the student's dress or appearance, including possible membership in a gang or hate group;

• What does it mean by a health or safety hazard? Shouldn’t be added, many students may not have the money to buy new clothing
• You shouldn’t get dress coded for things you don’t have control over
• Clarify/be more specific (ex: hate group)
• Make it an extra lesson in home room to go over what is acceptable and what is not.  

B. Damage to school property could result from the student's dress; or

• Claiming that the way someone dresses defines who they are while it can be used to express themselves, it doesn’t show what kind of person they are.
• Overall, get rid of this part.
• It seems to be used as an excuse
• This could be referring to an accessory
• Items damaging the school property doesn’t really correlate with clothing, it really just goes with weapons.
• The dress code should really just be no drugs and  no pornography.
• It shouldn’t be so complicated and extended

C. A material and substantial disruption of the educational process could result from the students' dress or appearance.

• Goes back to “clothing is a distraction.”
• Needs to be thrown away
• No class callouts; call people privately because it is embarrassing, especially when it is a teacher.
• They don’t say specifically what kind of disruption is made
• No type of clothing with nudity on it or clothing associated with sexual content (it is part of the dress code but needs to be more emphasized)
• There has to be a line we have to draw between the nudity in clothing and the brand, such as the Playboy brand
• “This includes brands like Playboy”
• Provide images to be more specific
• We shouldn’t ban things such as brands that can be sexually associated for some people than just the brand
• There is a difference between pictures and words
• What exactly is the disruption
• If it doesn’t distract anyone else but the teacher than there is not reason to be dress coded
• Disruption of class
• Clothing doesn’t equal distracting
• Think of it as a public environment
• When calling out a student, don’t use degrading terms.
• Talk in private
• Show the person being dress coded what specifically is being done wrong
• Make all the teachers have copies of the dress code
• Get rid of anything that includes the word distraction
• Shoulder are not distracting
• Stop dress coding bra straps, we can’t control our straps showing
• 2 students from every grade (who fill out a google form and are apporived by staff members) will be selected to revise, add, or take away from the dress code
• “Anything here not listen shall not be dress coded.”

For the purpose of this policy, a material and substantial disruption of the educational process may be found to exist when a student's conduct is inconsistent with any part of the educational mission of the school district.  Prohibited apparel includes that which features drug, tobacco, or alcohol-related messages; gang-related messages; or lewd, sexual messages. Student choices in matters of dress should be made in consultation with their parents/guardians. Change sexual messages to sexually explicit messages(images)

• We can add a definition of the word explicit and give examples to make things clearer

The uniforms of nationally recognized youth organizations and clothing worn in observance of a student’s religion are not subject to this policy.

The superintendent shall establish procedures providing guidance to students, parents/guardians, and staff regarding appropriate student dress in school or while engaging in co-curricular activities. Such procedures shall ensure that any student wearing, carrying, or displaying gang-related apparel, or exhibiting behavior or gestures that symbolize gang membership, or causing and/or participating in activities which intimidate or affect the attendance of another student shall be asked, with notice to his/her parents/guardians, to make appropriate corrections and shall be subject to discipline if the corrections are not undertaken.                                                              

END

Now that we have finished, we will open the discussion floor to anyone who wants to start our conversation. Here are a few examples of sentence starters, they are meant to help you contribute to the conversation.

*Please try to be as clear as possible when it comes to the change you're looking for.  Try to be detained in your change because the goal of this meeting is to make the dress code as crystal clear as possible. As we hear your concerns, they will be typed down and we may ask for you to repeat yourself so that we can write things exactly how you say them without changing any words.

Hey Everyone, My name is _____, as I read through the dress code I noticed that in section a/b/c it said __________, and I think that we should replace that with________ because_______.

After you state your concern/opinion, we will discuss it as a group to create a universal opinion and then we will write it down in our new dress code.

Thank you for your time!

“ Is there anything in the world more annoyingly creepy than an unspoken dress code”

• Coupland