Cape Girardeau School District creates committee to study dress code

A staff committee has been formed in the Cape Girardeau School District to determine if changes need to be made to the district's dress code policy.

According to superintendent Dr. Jim Welker, the committee will review the current policy and research on dress codes, seek input from other staff, parents and the community and possibly propose policy changes. Welker said the committee consists of a teacher and an administrator from each building in the district.

"This came about because of the difficulty of some buildings enforcing the existing policy," he said. Each building has its own policy,.

Welker said that if the committee proposes any major changes the district will ensure there is enough time provided to get input from parents and community as well implement the changes. Any changes that could be made would not happen until the start of the 2012-2013 school year.

While Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School made a change to its dress code policy for girls last month, Welker said possible changes to the dress code districtwide had been discussed at administrative meetings before that change.

Junior high principal Carla Fee is heading the committee and said changing dress code policies has been brought up to school officials over the past few years by parents and faculty.

"There has been a concern over enforcement, and that we need something districtwide that is more consistent from building to building," Fee said.

While Fee said the work of committee is in the early stages, it has been discussing those concerns as well as the potential need to change the policy on faculty dress.

The change to the dress code at the junior high requires that seventh- and eighth-grade girls' skirts or shorts fall no higher than two inches above the knee. Shorts worn for physical education classes are an exception.

When the change was made, administrators said the whole school policy wasn't specific enough and that students who had been repeatedly asked to wear clothing deemed appropriate by staff had not been compliant. The policy previously said shorts and skirts must be of modest length and specified no short shorts or short skirts. Fee said at the time that the policy was only directed at girls because boys were dressing appropriately.

Welker said when the committee finishes studying the dress code policy, it will likely make a recommendation to administrators on what changes are needed. The recommendation would then be made to the school board.

"Basically, all they are doing right now is researching and looking at what changes they might recommend," he said.

The committee has been and will continue to look at stricter dress code policies put in place in recent years in the Scott City and Caruthersville school districts.

The Scott City School District's dress code policy went into effect at the start of the this school year. That district used a community committee to study the policy of the Caruthersville School District, which enacted a stringent uniform policy in early 2010. It also debated the pros and cons of dress code policies.

Scott City's policy requires that students wear solid-color shirts with collars and plain khaki, black or navy pants. Capri pants, shorts and skirts in those colors are also acceptable as long as they meet length requirements, as are jeans as long as they aren't faded and have no holes. Shoes can be slip-on or have laces, and belts must be black, brown or white with no embellishments.

According to Missouri law, a public school district may require students to wear a school uniform or restrict student dress to a particular style and a school district may determine the style and color of the school uniform.

Welker said the committee is working its way through the issue to figure out what is in the best interest of the district and the students.

eragan@semissourian.com

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