A letter to the editor of the Vermont Standard

from a group of WUMS Students:

On Friday, April 22, 2016, there was a special dress code assembly for all of the girls at Woodstock Union Middle School. During this time the girls were being given a strict lecture about the dress code while boys had the chance to play games and socialize. This assembly was based only on gender. When some girls at the assembly asked how it was fair to have a mandatory assembly for all girls, including those who had never broken the dress code, the response was that girls “were more of a problem,” when it came to enforcing the dress code.

This assembly started out as a reminder of the dress code requirements. Students were reminded that the inseam for shorts needs to be at least seven inches, that skirts need to be closer to the knees than it to the waist, that mesh garments or clothing with holes are not allowed, and that the straps on sleeveless shirts must be at least three inches long. It was emphasized that all articles of clothing must be opaque and that no undergarments of any kind should be visible.

However, these were not really the main points of this meeting. Students were specifically told that the dress code was in place to keep boys from being distracted by a girl’s clothing or body during school. Girls were warned that boys were standing under the stairs trying to look up girls’ skirts. The girls in our school were made to feel responsible for distracting boys and made to feel uncomfortable with their bodies, like they were suddenly not allowed to acknowledge that they had shoulders or legs. Girls at the meeting asked their teachers and administrators why, if they were so concerned about the behavior of the boys, they didn’t talk to the boys about this issue. They were given a non satisfactory response that sounded more like an excuse. These actions spoke louder than the words being spoken by implying that the girls in our school are a “distraction,” “problem,” and are responsible for the boys’ actions.

        However, the girls aren’t the only ones who are the victims of the dress code. To say that girls are a distraction to boys and to imply that girls are responsible for the actions of the boys is highly offensive to both boys and girls. When asked, none of the boys in the middle school have reported ever being distracted by something that a classmate was wearing, and to imply that boys can’t control their actions and that it is therefore the responsibility of the girls to wear clothing that covers themselves is underestimating the boys. Perhaps the administrators and teachers at our school would be surprised if they ever decided to give the boys a chance.

        All students were warned at the meeting, on the afternoon announcements, and on the morning announcements on Monday morning that there would be daily dress code checks in which any student who appeared to be breaking dress code would be called to the middle school office. Asking a student to leave the classroom because of what they are wearing is publicly humiliating students in front of their peers. We were all taught in elementary school and in middle school that bullying is wrong; and that being a bystander to bullying who does nothing is like accepting bullying and is just as wrong as being a bully. We will not watch ourselves and friends be publicly humiliated by the school dress code and do nothing about it because that is wrong. The definition of bullying that is provided in the middle school handbook provided at the beginning of the year to all students states on page 15, “Bullying means any overt act or combination of such acts directed against a student or group of students and which: (a) occurs during the school day on school property, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity; (b) is intended to ridicule, humiliate, or intimidate the student; and (c) is repeated over time.” We believe that this definition, with the exception of it stating that a bully must be a student, accurately describes the dress code situation occurring inside our school every day. We believe that female students in our school were subject to sexism and gender discrimination at the meeting on April 22. We believe that our school is unfairly underestimating the boys by implying that they can’t control their own actions. We believe that our school is humiliating its students repeatedly over time and that the school handbook should update the definition of bullying to include bullying done by teachers, staff, and administrators. We believe that the dress code at our school is wrong. We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all students are created equal; that they are endowed; by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness with oneself free from discrimination and humiliation by public institutions.

Zayne Adams, Bitty Alexander, Hawley Bean, Stephen Bianchi, Lola Dorsogna, Abbey Duane, Audrey Eggum, Lydia Howe, Izzy Jones, Sofia Kantola, Erica Kurash, Allison Leibly, Olivia Marsicovetere, Sam Mitchell, Zoe Napier, Mollie Parent, Maggie Parker, Macey Plumb, Stephen and Gayle Plumb parents of Macey Plumb, Riley Quicker, Maggie Rice, Maddie Rieger, Anna Walker