First day of kindergarten dress9/19/2023 Uniforms, which are lauded as a way to reduce the appearance of economic disparity, proved to be an imperfect solution. The NWLC found that Black girls, who had the highest suspension rate in the country compared to white girls, were being unfairly targeted by school dress codes. According to a Government Accountability Office report, 90% of dress codes have policies that dictate what girls can wear. “They were using language saying girls need to cover up to avoid distracting boys or Black girls can’t wear head wraps because it’s unprofessional or it’s not neat,” said Evans.These policies resulted in harsh punishments ranging from disrupting classroom time to suspensions. Their findings exposed gender and race stereotypes within dress code policies. She recruited over 20 young people ages 12 to 18 to research dress codes with her and produce a report on dress codes featuring the twelve schools they collectively attended in DC. “What we found in conversations with students, parents and teachers was that dress codes were consistently coming up as a massive contributor to school push out,” Evans said. Evans’ research focused on school pushout - when schools use exclusionary discipline practices that result in students leaving school altogether. The report brought to light the discriminatory and harmful effects of dress code policies at schools in D.C. The catalyst for changing the dress code at Alice Deal came in the form of a dress code report written by Nia Evans from the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and a group of students in 2018. She knew that for an updated dress code to be successful and work for learners, it required the active involvement from the students and community members it would impact. To reshape the policy in a way that truly supported student learning and wellbeing, Neal embraced a school-wide approach. “I had to go back to that classroom,” said Kinney, who described herself as an insecure middle schooler. When Kinney’s skirt did not pass her fingertips, she had to change into her gym shorts. “And we took them away from their learning to have a conversation about what they were wearing.” For instance, Zya Kinney, now 23, remembered getting pulled out of class by a teacher and being asked to do the “fingertip test” - a practice where students put their hand by their sides to see if the hemline of their shorts or skirts pass their fingertips. Prior to the change, students were pulled out of class if their outfits violated the school dress code. The decision to reevaluate the dress code arose from the realization that the existing policies were no longer aligned with the needs of the students at Alice Deal, a public middle school in Washington, D.C. The completely outrageous things are also not comfortable or feasible.” Neal said that while adolescents revel in novelty, their desire to be comfortable won out in the end: “They ran out of completely outrageous things. With time, the strappy, short outfits leveled off. “It was just on parade,” said Principal Diedre Neal about students’ attire. In 2018, following the reveal of a new dress code, students enthusiastically showed up to Alice Deal Middle School in spaghetti straps, flip flops and short hemlines.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |