Attending to teacher attire: school leaders wage a tense campaign to maintain a staff's professional look

School Administrator, Feb, 2003 by Ruth E. Sternberg

Teachers in Baytown, Texas, were willing to compromise on 'what they could wear to school. But give up blue jeans and tennis shoes? They might as well have been told they had to wear uniforms.

"A highly restrictive dress code is seen as harassment," one teacher from the school district told a local newspaper. "A teacher needs the freedom to create his or her most effective style."

Barbara Sultis, superintendent of the 18,500-student Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District, which employs 1,500 teachers, believes she provided the key to that freedom when she involved as many parties as possible in the decision-making process two years ago. Serving then as the district's administrative director, Sultis invited teachers, parents and principals to the table. They met for hours just to talk about the fitness of jeans in the classroom. They came back to hash out rules about earrings, skirt length and other details,

The six-month process was worth it, believes Sultis, noting there hasn't been much backlash since the school board approved the final three-page policy in May 2001.

"The whole process involving all the little guys was totally democratic," she says. "You don't have too many opportunities to do it right."

Differing Attitudes

Across the country, administrators are wondering how they can better regulate what teachers wear without provoking a labor war. Many say they have concerns about the styles worn by those just entering the profession. Jeans and T-shirts are just as likely as button-down shirts and Chinos to appear at the front of a classroom.

"The teachers graduating today have a different idea of what constitutes professional dress," says John Griego, executive director of high schools in Colorado Springs, Cob., District 11.

"Twenty-five to 30 years ago, it was more coat and tie. Now, they're Generation X and have a more laissez faire attitude," says Andre Pettigrew, assistant superintendent in Denver, Colo.

Many say their current staff dress codes don't give principals much help in dealing with questions that arise. Stipulations to dress "professionally" or "appropriately" are subjective and leave wide gaps for interpretation. Teachers complain principals have no right to tell them they can't wear sandals when the code doesn't ban them.

Without a more specific policy, "it becomes a teacher saying, 'This is your opinion and not mine,"' says Dennis Smith, superintendent of the PlacentiaYorba Linda, Calif., district,

But getting all parties to agree on terms for attire is often a battle of wills. Administrators see dress as a projection of image and an element of classroom control. Teachers may see any push to regulate their behavior as an infringement of their civil rights.

"Dress is very much freedom of expression," says Mary Jo McGrath, a veteran school attorney based in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"There's a majority that is mildly offended by the notion that teachers can't decide for themselves what's appropriate attire," says Tom Harrison, president of the teachers union in Santa Ana, Calif.

Geographic Diversity

School culture also differs from place to place so it can be hard to translate policies across geographical borders. What's acceptable workplace attire in suburban California isn't necessarily the same as what communities expect in rural Kentucky or southern Virginia.

Administrators who have successfully negotiated teacher dress codes advise a short course in community mores and state regulations. Begin with a study of state law and dress codes in other districts, they say. In some states, dress codes must be negotiated as part of a union contract. In others, boards or superintendents can develop their own policies.

"If they can even have records of studies or places where codes have been implemented and behavior has improved, it will help it later if it ever does get scrutinized in court," said McGrath, who has represented school districts in hundreds of legal cases involving school personnel over the years.

Once you're ready to start developing a dress code, open the process to as many stakeholders as possible. Bring in teachers and community members. Let them state their preferences and be part of a compromise plan. Develop clear goals and reasonable expectations. Consider a policy that gives teachers and principals discretion in establishing dress interpretation at individual schools according to their classroom needs.

In Harford County, Md., 25 miles northeast of Baltimore, Superintendent Jackie Haas says she wished she had taken some of this advice. Last school year, as her school board developed a more stringent dress code for its 40,000 students, she employed what she thought was common sense and urged board members to add language indicating the district's teachers were role models and should adhere to the same standards as students.

She soon found herself arguing with the teachers union, which perceived her statement as bullying. Even though Haas has agreed to sit down with union representatives to talk about the matter, it has been difficult to get past the hard feelings. The matter remains unresolved.