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New School Dress Code – for Parents!
I loved hearing this news. Imagine telling the parents of school children to dress like responsible adults! The principal of James Madison High School in Houston, Carlotta Outley Brown, expects parents to meet the standards to dress appropriately when they appear at the school:
A letter from Ms. Brown to parents and guests on the school’s website forbids them from being at school in such attire as hair rollers, pajamas, sagging pants, leggings that show the wearer’s bottom, low rider shorts and torn jeans showing lots of skin.
The resistance to the dress code could have been predicted. The Houston Federation of Teachers has spoken out:
Zeph Capo, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, called codes relating to women’s hair ‘classist’ and ‘belittling.’
‘I’m sorry, this principal may have plenty of money and time to go to the hairdresser weekly and have her stuff done,’ he told the newspaper. ‘Who are you to judge others who may not have the same opportunities that you do? Having a wrap on your head is not offensive. It should not be controversial.’
The controversy erupted in response to a parent who arrived at the school to enroll her child; she was dressed in a headscarf and too-short skirt, and was turned away.
Ms. Outley Brown is a highly regarded principal at James Madison High who took over the school this year:
She previously was the principal at a Houston elementary school that routinely met state academic standards and occasionally earned awards for performing above average, the paper reported.
The elementary school at one point received one of the country’s highest academic honors and a U.S. Department of Education publication noted at the time that Outley Brown, concerned that parents were showing up in ‘inappropriately informal dress,’ would explain to them that ‘they may not appear at school so dressed and firmly turned them away, as she did any parents using inappropriate language on school grounds.’
I appreciate this decision for a number of reasons. First, it communicates that standards are important, including how we dress. Second, it directs parents to show respect for the educational institution for the role it plays in preparing their children for life. Third, it directs the parents to dress appropriately, sending a message to the children that the way we dress communicates in part who we are, including whether we respect ourselves.
I’m sure there will be more pushback on this decision, in whole or in part (such as regarding the wearing of headscarves).
What do you think about this dress code standard for parents?
Published in Culture
To clarify once and for all! A woman was stopped from entering the school and she was wearing a “head scarf and a too-short dress.” No one has clarified if she was stopped for both, but I’ll bet it was only for her short dress. That is the only place where a scarf is mentioned in the article. Even the principal’s letter on the high school website says nothing about scarves. End of story. At least for now! ;-)
Re # 31
Sounds like opponents of the dress code know they won’t turn enough people against it without misrepresenting it.
Yes, I was about to say this too. This unfortunate development is a new company owned by Goldie Hawn’s daughter. The first time I saw the name, I read it as “Fable Ticks.” And some of the commercials brag that they look good on every body type (NO), and they show them on some girls who should not be wearing them.
Descendants of American slaves dressed in their Sunday best everytime they met a teacher. (When they could meet a teacher.)
Sometimes, there were incredible poor Southern Blacks (and Whites) who showed up without fancy clothes but politely asked the the teachers to teach their kids to read because they could not.
I doubt that the lady that was rejected for her short skirt had to ask a Church filled with poor people to provide her with her Sunday best. She didn’t wear her Sunday best because she didn’t feel like it. That matters.
Seems rather pretentious of a public school to make demands of the tax payers. Who fund them irrespective of attendence. You can discriminate against your customers if they can also discriminate against paying you. No shirt, no shoes, no service is fine for a restaurant it is a mutual transaction. If I want their food I have to respect their dress code, they kick me out they don’t get my money their choice. But seems to me like if they can take my money and kick me out it’s more like robbery.
Beggars can’t be choosers, and public schools are all beggars.
Beautiful comparison, @henrycastaigne. It does matter. Thanks.
Worse than MAGA hats!
I don’t wholly disagree with you – though I do try. ;)
If you are there to pick up a sick kid it would be ludicrous to dress up for it. And for all that this pleases the conservative part of me that thinks dress codes and respect are important, the more libertarian part of me is disturbed that any government entity would get between a citizen and that citizen’s child on pretty much any pretext whatever.
Uniforms work and make life much easier and cheaper for parents. Cant do that in public schools? Another reason to do away with them.
Zeph Capo is obviously a sexist and misogynist. Probably a racist, too. How dare he? It makes no matter that Mz.Carlotta Outley Brown has policies and procedures that will benefit students, teachers and administration. She is a woman of color!!
How dare he.
Totally isty™.
I think the general consensus here is that a certain level of attire adds to the respectful atmosphere of the school for both parents and teachers. Sad that this view seems to be becoming less common. Back in my high school days, some of the “greaser” guys had a dress-up day on occasion when they would wear jackets and ties. My friend Sam was part of that crowd and he said that he liked it and was less likely to get in trouble on the dress-up days. Sam was a friendly guy who was well-liked by all the social cliques, but his default attire was Fonzi-like.
For the record, poor Chinese to this day jump through alot of hoops to get their kids the best education. I was in China for a few years. I assume incredibly poor people around the world jump through alot of hoops to help out their kids. I think clarifying some standards of what to do is OK.
I can picture Stormy Daniels being turned away from a meeting with her daughter’s teacher:
Teacher: Ma’am, you can’t come in looking like that.
Stormy: But I just got off work!
Zowie, could I ever write an essay on this. No time this morning. Huzzah to Ms Brown, and I’m certain she’ll be punished for it.
Every public school teacher I know decries the lack of parents’ involvement in their children’s education. Having standards like this for the parents so fits in this arena. Is the teachers’ union nuts? Yeah, well…
And I can’t imagine anybody complaining about the dress of a parent who comes to school for an emergency. But the question does arise – why is s/he / ze / zer dressed that way in the first place? I spent a good part of my life working in the woods. Had I ever had to rush down to the school, I would have been sweaty, in my Frisko jeans, logger-heel boots and hard hat. But as far as I can tell, I would still have met Ms Brown’s standards.
It’s not money. That excuse is just silly. I knew a guy – a really sharp dresser. We’re talking suits and ties here. Turns out he bought everything but his underwear in thrift shops. I occasionally have to dress up a prisoner for court. Where do I go? Thrift shops. You would be astonished how little it costs to outfit somebody in very nice clothes. Similarly, while I’m not an attorney, I always wear coat and tie in court. In my opinion it just demonstrates my respect for the court. I’m constantly astonished at what people, who should be trying to make a favorable impression on the judge, wear. They could dress nicely for the price of a couple Big Mac’s.
Hair dresser? That’s funny. As it happens, yesterday I spent a couple hours with a prisoner’s grandmother. I first met her over ten years ago. She arrived here from her native Mexico, by bus, the only adult, with grandchildren and children in tow. That was nearly thirty years ago. She has not had an easy life. She is not rich by any measure. I cannot imagine that she has ever been to a hair stylist in her life. Yet not a single strand of hair is out of place. Her clothing is simple, I’m certain from thrift shops. Yet she’s very nicely dressed. In fact, she projects what I can only describe as a regal air.
No, there is no excuse, and no reason for anybody to dress or act like a slob. It’s a choice. And it says a lot.
I love what you’ve said, @quietpi. I also realize that the way a lot of these people dressed points to the degradation of modesty and the predominance of sexualized behavior. I’m glad that the principal called out women who dress like prostitutes and essentially tell their kids it’s okay or it doesn’t matter. It does matter.
I think we should rethink about a head covering. We may have no idea why she may cover her head, perhaps she had chemo and is bald, can’t afford a wig, or a similar reason. I agree that covering hair curlers is not a good reason. However in my own case, you will rarely see me without a cap or scarf wrapped around my head. Even at formal events.
I had brain stem surgery and the occipital nerve was stapled into the closing wound behind my right ear. Part of the mastoid bone is missing as well. I am totally deaf in that ear. So I wear a cap to keep the area warm and help muffle sound that is painful. Occipital neuralgia is no laughing matter, and should someone tell me to take off my cap or a scarf, I’d tell them to go stuff it.
One of the blogs posted a photo of the crowd at a ballgame in the 50s. The men wore suits and the women dresses, hats, gloves, like it was a special event.
The owner of where I worked sent a similar memo and the funniest one was no duct tape on shoes. I worked in an all male industry where duct tape seemed to be used on everything that was broke, including one worker’s shoe sole.
Don’t get my husband started on duct tape, @ralphie! He’ll burn your ear for hours!
Edit–
And you’re right. There used to be lots of things we dressed up for, such as the theater. Even church. Now people look like they’re going to hang out at the beach.
Instead of just focussing on reading, writing, math, and history schools now need to teach basics of self-respect and manners? And not just to the kids but to the parents?
I think the worst example I’ve seen of someone failing to dress up was at a funeral several years ago. A young man came into the church wearing dirty overalls, looking like he just finished milking the cows. And he sipped on a bottle of Mountain Dew while the service was going on. I’m at least glad he wasn’t a tobacco-chewer.
Yah, but so what? It used to be that wrapping yourself up in a long bed-sheet with a purple trim was the height of luxury and class. Not one of the Apostles wore clothes as nice as a modern pair of sweat pants and t-shirt. Fashion is an ever evolving and arbitrary standard. You all are crying over spilled milk here. We are a friendlier society and a more casual society. Used to be that if you were real fancy you wore a tux to dinner with gloves, and a suit was more casual attire.
Look at pictures from the 1950’s, for example pictures of the Rosenberg protests in Union Square – lefties wore a coat and tie to riots.
In some ethic groups wearing a doorag [?] as a head covering is a way of making a political/social statement of disrespect for “the man” and his institutions that most Ricochetti would not be aware of. I’m confident that’s what motivated the inclusion of head coverings in this ban.
Yeah, there is that.
Teachers often assume they have to do the work of the parents – including feeding the kids.
And they are often correct in that assumption.
At risk of repetitious curmudgery, we have way too many social services and not enough fit parents.
Head coverings for women have a long but checkered history of being correct dress for women.
One of the reasons I liked this post, and chuckled a little bit, is life is so different in the 305. Las Mamacitas don’t drop off their kids or visit the school without being dressed to the nines. Of course, here, that means stiletto heels, hair immaculate (dahling), tight pants, and decolletage that just stops short at having the grade school males spontaneously burst into puberty. This is a typical Miami couple, pre-breeding:
The educators told us parents we were too dumb to teach our children about things like sex, etc., and now they tell us we failed both the kids and the teachers. My advice to parents is that to be a parent, don’t rely on the experts if it goes against your gut or own experience.