Public invited to Cape school board work session on possible dress code changes

The Cape Girardeau School Board has planned a special work session to discuss details of a controversial proposal to change the district's current dress code policies.

The session will come two days after the second of two public forums regarding the initial draft of a proposal that would require students to adhere to a stricter dress code policy. The new policy would begin with the 2012-2013 school year. The work session, scheduled for 5 p.m. Jan. 19 in the upstairs meeting room of the central district office, will be open to the public, although public comment will not be permitted.

The school board would have to approve the proposal before any changes are made to the current dress code policy. The board is scheduled to vote on the proposal during a regularly scheduled school board meeting Feb. 27.

Board president Stacy Kinder said she hopes the public will attend the work session.

"I'm encouraging it, because I think that will be a great time for people to hear the details and hear from the administration the whys of the proposal," she said.

Kinder would not comment whether the board has developed any outlook on the proposal and said much more information is needed by the board in order to begin making a decision on a final outcome.

"The information we received in December barely scratched the surface of what the district wants to convey to us, and there are a lot of hows and whys to all these details that I need to hear," she said. "By talking with teachers and administrators I have gotten some of those answers, but it needs to be done in an official setting."

The school board got its first look at the proposal in December during a work session, which if voted into a policy would require students to wear a polo or oxford shirt in orange, black, gray or white, tucked in with a belt and khaki or black pants, or skirts, jumpers and shorts within certain length. Certain sweaters and leggings would be accepted.

Members of the district's faculty-comprised dress committee who wrote the proposal heard from parents and other concerned parties at the first of two public forums Monday. The group will consider the input and determine any necessary changes, said Carla Fee, chairwoman of the committee and principal of Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School on Monday after the forum. Because the special session comes so quickly after the second forum, the board may not see those changes.

The majority of speakers at the first forum spoke against a change to the current student dress code.

"What we are going to do now, and after the next one, is get together and go over these concerns, address them as a committee and go back to the drawing board," Fee said.

Fee said the committee made a decision not to refute any comments made during the forum.

During the forum, many commenters said they thought the committee didn't do enough to seek parent input, but Fee called that a misperception. She said the committee sent information home with every student regarding an opportunity to take a survey on the dress code, telling parents they can take the survey online or call the board office and be sent a self-addressed stamped envelope containing the survey, she said.

The second public forum will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in the junior high auditorium.

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