What's In Williamson County Schools' Proposed Dress Code?

FRANKLIN, TN — A proposed new district-wide dress code for Williamson County Schools would bring consistency while aiming to eliminate "distractions." WCS Superintendent Mike Looney presented a draft of his proposal to a meeting of the school board's policy committee Monday, according to The Tennessean.

"All we want to do is have our kids dress properly so it's not a distraction at school ... We want it to be reasonable, but we want it to be enforceable. We really think it's important that we remain as gender neutral as possible and as inclusive as possible," he said, according to the newspaper.

Currently, WCS policy "encourages" individual schools to implement more stringent standards than the county policy; Looney's proposal would eliminate that clause.

The dress code came under fire from one parent in October, who said it furthered "rape culture" by putting the onus on female students to cover up so as not to titillate their male peers.

“It is clear – they are singling out the girls,” Kimberly Sarubbi said,according to the Brentwood Home Page. “This has been confirmed as I talk to other students and parents. Overwhelmingly, it’s the girls that get dress code [violations]. The problem is not just unequal treatment, but the logic behind the difference. Through this logic, schools make it the girl’s responsibility to cover up as to not be distracting to their hormone infused male peers.”

At the time, Looney said the policy, which was created in 1999 and 2000 and amended in 2002, was vague to the point of meaninglessness. For example, he said a prohibition on tank tops was interpreted differently by every principal and that some provisions, like no piercings except for the ears, were simply ignored, according to the BHP.

The proposal clarifies some of the vague clauses and adds new ones, including a requirement that shoes be worn, which was apparently left off the dress code.

According to The Tennessean, revised clauses include:

• Students can wear tank tops if the shoulder strap measures a minimum of two inches wide for students in grades 6-12 and a minimum of 1 inch for students in grades K-5.
• Shorts, skirts and dresses may be worn so long as bare skin or undergarments are not visible above mid-thigh. Current policy says shorts and skirts can not be 6 inches above the knee.

Among the new clauses:

• Requires all pants, or trousers, shorts and skirts are to be held at the waist.
• Prohibits clothing that accentuates or exposes genitalia, busts or buttocks.
• Permits hats only in non-instructional spaces in buildings.
• Permits opaque clothing if it covers the front and back midriff.

The school board will review and likely revise the dress code several times before it goes into effect, which at the earliest would be the 2017-18 school year.

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