New dress code an issue in Scott City school election

A number of significant issues will confront the Scott City School Board in the coming years. Declining state funding. Rising state and federal standards. Improving an Annual Performance Report that ranks among the lower reports of area school districts.

But what could define Tuesday's school board election -- in which five candidates are vying for three seats for three-year terms -- is the district's student unified dress code policy, finalized by the board in January.

"I can tell you without a doubt the race is defined by the dress code issue," said candidate Gary Haynes, a Scott City businessman who is making his third run at a board seat following two attempts. "Even though I've tried to get out my education and business experience and have tried to talk about the issues, the first question asked of me is what my stance is on the clothing thing."

The policy, set to take effect at the start of the 2011-2012 school year, outlines a conservative list of appropriate dress for students. Board members recently upgraded the faculty dress code, described as "one step up" from the student code.

Opponents of the policy charge it would be costly for cash-strapped families and that it would stifle student expression.

Haynes said he feels the board rushed into the vote without having all of the information from parents and taxpayers and that he would have liked to have seen a more deliberative process.

School board president Scott Amick, seeking his third term on the board, says he hopes the dress code isn't the only pull for voters.

"I think the people who vote care about more than what children are wearing," Amick said.

Candidate Beth McDonough Cox served as co-chairwoman of the Scott City Committee to Study Student Dress Codes. The 55-member committee spent much of last fall studying the pros and cons of a standardized student dress policy and then made recommendations on attire after the board approved the policy in December. It was her work on the committee in part that made McDonough Cox, a compliance director for health care insurer Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, want to run for the board seat.

She said she wonders where the opposition was before and up until the time the board approved the dress code, when very few community members showed up to the meeting.

"For those who worked so hard to gather all the information for the school board, it's frustrating when things are said afterward about the report or the committee," McDonough Cox said.

Incumbent Sally Porch, finishing 12 years on the board, voted for the dress code. She said she doesn't understand why some in the community say it punishes students, when the goal of the code is to improve the educational environment. Like her challengers, Porch hopes voters keep in mind the many important issues the district faces: the work of improving test scores, bolstering curriculum and building on a graduation rate that is higher than the state average.

"My focus is on education and educational issues," Porch said.

Daniel Lance, 24, the youngest in the field of board candidates, is running for the first time. The 2005 Scott City High School graduate said he wants to bring a younger person's perspective to the board.

If elected, Lance said, he would weigh the policy's pros and cons but that he'd "rather not get drug into that right now."

mkittle@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

3000 Main St., Scott City, MO