Wisconsin School District Yoga Pants Rules 'Sexist': ACLU

KENOSHA COUNTY, WI -- The Kenosha Unified School District recently lifted their ban on female students wearing yoga pants, leggings and tank tops on school grounds, however the Wisconsin ACLU says that they're still discriminating against female students.

According to the Wisconsin ACLU, officials received a report in July that a summer school student was reprimanded for wearing a tank top in gym class. It didn't result in the student getting kicked out of class, however she was threatened with being sent home two days in a row, the ACLU says.

The ACLU says that although the clothing ban has been lifted, it's not being fairly enforced, and district staff apparently haven't gotten the message.

"This conversation is not just about leggings or tank tops. It is a bigger issue that zeroes in on unequal enforcement of a student dress code in violation of the Constitution and various civil rights statutes designed to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex," the ACLU of Wisconsin said in a statement. "All school administrators should reexamine their dress codes to guard against unfair practices, guidelines or policies, whether in the classroom, on the internet."

Asma Kadri Keeler of the Wisconsin ACLU said that girls are being held to an unfair standard when compared with boys.

"We can talk about items of clothing and we can talk about decency and all that, but the bigger picture is that girls are being pulled out of class and losing access to education at a rate that boys aren’t. And that’s a bigger problem,"Keeler told WISN 12.

Others Tightening Legging and Yoga Pants Rules

In a report in the Kenosha News in early 2017, the parent of an 11-year-old middle school student challenged the Kenosha School Board the school board to lift its legging ban.

The mother argued that Kenosha Unified's ban implies that leggings were "too distracting" for the boys. She further explained to the board that district policy shifts the blame for certain types of unwelcome adolescent boy behavior directly onto the girls.

Kenosha's grapple with the leggings issue was just one place in the U.S. where parents and district officials are wrestling uneasily with how to proceed.

In one Florida school district officials are calling for a dress code change, banning leggings, yoga pants and tights if not covered by a shirt or skirt no more than 4 inches above the knee. And they propose redefining the activities that could lead to expulsion to include continuous disruptive behavior (defined as 14 or more referrals).

In early February 2014, media reports stated that a Massachusetts school was re-examining a decision it made to enforce a dress code ban on yoga pants after students protested the policy.
In Oklahoma, school district officials had to crack down on their dress code policy in 2014 after a number of reported bullying incidents after a number of girls came forward about boys in the school making derogatory comments about form-fitting pants, including leggings and tights.

Wauwatosa Relaxes Rules

As some school districts crack down on the wearing of form-fitting leggings and yoga pants, officials in Wauwatosa are loosening the former skin-tight regulations that prohibited the wearing of such attire.

In a letter sent to all district teachers and staff before the 2018-19 school season, Wauwatosa Superintendent Phil Ertl said that the district is making several changes to the dress code policy in an effort to create a more equitable learning experience that does not reinforce stereotypes.

"Beginning this year and moving forward, students will be able to wear the following, as long as these items do not violate the "prohibited" portion of the guidelines," he wrote.

Those items included fitted pants, including opaque leggings, yoga pants and skinny jeans.

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