During second quarter, there was a renewed emphasis on the Olathe North school dress code on the part of school teachers and administration. There was a Powerpoint students watched during Advisory to help students with the dress code. The powerpoint gave students more visuals and reminders of the dress code to help with school safety and professionalism. “My powerpoint was more in depth, and it was because last year we had a lot of kids wearing hoodies,” said Principal Jason Herman.

One of the main points Herman said the point of dress code was the safety and security of our building. “Students that have their face covered with hats, hoodies or beanies would make it hard to identify faces if something were to happen… It’s not only the perpetrator in that moment, but its victims, witnesses, and bystanders. If we have everyone wearing hoodies and hats, we couldn’t tell who anyone is,” Herman stated. Over the past couple years, school shootings have became more prevalent and school safety was been more emphasized so if something were to happen we would be safe.

The second point was professionalism and making us look ready for the real world. “I’m trying establish Olathe North and the educational processes as a professional setting, and I think that a lot of students would agree that certain clothing is inappropriate in professional setting,” Herman says. You wouldn’t wear PJs or sag your pants at work, so we need to be prepared for our future careers. The more we dress professionally now, the better prepared we are for the future and the easier we will find it to dress professionally on our own.

When the powerpoint first came out, students were baffled and discontent with the dress code rules. “I was confused in the Powerpoint when they said we couldn’t wear ripped jeans to school because they said it was inappropriate,” claimed Junior Alyssa McCue, “but people have continued to wear them avoiding being dress coded and it’s confusing where they draw the line.”

Other students have also voiced their concerns and confusion about the dress code. According to Mr. Herman around 10 students get something said to them about dress code a week. This is when he would say something like “take off your hat” or “zip up your jacket”. About 5 students get a consequence a week, which is just about half of the people that get told something.

Some students feel like the dress code is instituted because it distracts other people’s learning. The way someone dresses could possibly be distracting to certain people, but it all depends on the student. “Strapless shirts and tube tops have been coming back in style, and it’s just confusing how they’re more concerned about how our shoulders are being distracting even though I find it comfortable,” states Junior Jayna Haskin.

A way of getting rid of school dress code would be to have school uniforms were everyone would be wearing the same modest clothing. The benefits of uniforms are that they all pass the school dress code. “I don’t have a say in school uniforms, but the one thing uniforms do is eliminate the lines of the have and have nots… It seperates whos wearing higher end clothes versus the people who can’t afford it. It would also cover every rule that is in the dress code”, says Herman.

Some of the drawbacks about uniforms are that it gets rid of any creativity in what students wear. Herman followed with saying, “This year’s theme is ‘you be you’, and with uniforms that would take a lot of that out and I don’t want that to occur. What I do want to occur is the very simple thing to happen within the dress code”.

So what can you do if you have a problem or concern about the dress code? “Every year I do a CTC Survey (community that cares), that goes to students and parents and the one feedback that I consistently get back from students is ‘can we do something about the dress code at Olathe North,’ and it’s not about wearing strapless tops, it’s the other way around, to make sure were wearing clothes when were at school,” answered Herman. The dress code has always been a controversial thing in Olathe North and Herman would love to hear your feedback.