- By Dan Veaner
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Luke Davis
"We sent the code to our lawyers, who reviewed it from top to bottom," said School Superintendent Stephen Grimm. "They sent us back a red-lined version with comments and things we had to add or delete. "
At issue were items such as boys taking off their shirts during athletic practice, or girls wearing sports bras. Varsity cross country runner Luke Davis made a last minute plea for the board to avoid creating a blanket policy that might be out of context for certain teams. WHile the dress policy is only a small part of the overall code of conduct, it continued to draw the most heat.
Last week High School Principal Eric Hartz and Athletic Director John Taylor met with the captains of all the fall-season varsity teams. Davis and Hartz both said they thought the meeting was informative and productive. Hartz provided research for students to see different perspectives and data on how dress codes affect athletic achievement.
Meanwhile the school attorneys addressed questions about strip searches and searching vehicles on school property, among other legal issues that had been raised.
What the board ended up with was a less specific dress policy that leaves the decisions about dress codes in the hands of the principals of each school. A paragraph that specifically singled out athletic and extra-curricular activities was removed, and the documents acknowledges that there should be different rules for children at different stages of development. What was left was a series of guidelines with the caveat that the building principals would be responsible for developing the specific dress codes for their schools, which would be published in each school's student handbook.
 Lansing Board of Education (from near end of table to far) Richard Thayler, Glenn Swanson, Anne Drake, Superintendent Stephen Grimm, Michael Cheatham, Glenn Cobb, Aziza benson |
The board has suggested guidelines," Grimm said. "But the principals have the autonomy to make decisions about what is developmentally appropriate at their levels. This policy allows the principals to add to these guidelines as they see fit."
Many changes were requested and amendments voted on by board members. Aziza Benson suggested that leaving in specific guidelines about girls skirts while removing the stricture on boys wearing shirts would be sexist, stressing that the guidelines should either be specific about both or neither. Glenn Swanson didn't want any athletics dress code at all, saying he didn't want to do anything to discourage sports. He argued that athletic dress requirements should be left to the coaches.
But Grimm said that because of the very different levels of experience the coaches have he felt it is appropriate to put it in the hands of the principals, whose job is to make substantive decisions on a daily basis.
Michael Cheatham said that he wanted athletic dress requirements to be based on science with input from sports professionals. Richard Thayler had a few legal concerns.
The vote was 4-1-1 with Swanson voting against the policy and Thayler abstaining.
Students who oppose dress regulations will have a new hurdle to pass. Now it will be up to them to lobby their principals for dress requirements they want.
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