In Napa, California, a school suspended a girl for wearing Winnie the Pooh-themed socks. A judge told the school to stop enforcing it's strict dress code. Fifteen students and parents made a lawsuit against the Napa Valley Unified School District's "appropiate attire policy." This unreasonably strict policy violates the student's (First Amendment) freedom of speech and expression. The policy had started in the 1990s to stop gang activity on campus by requiring the students to only wear clothes with "solid colors in blue, white, green, yellow, khaki, gray, brown and black." No demin was allowed. The parents are also very pleased that the court recognizes the student's rights to express themselves at school. Earlier this year, a student was sent to an "in-school suspenssion program called Students With Attitude Problems" because she wore socks that had Tigger cartton character on them, with a denim skirt and a brown shirt with pink border.
I absolutely agree with the judge's desicion to demand the Napa Valley Unified School District to stop enforcing their unreasonably strict dress policy. Do you think it is reasonable to send a student to a suspension program just because they wore denim and socks with character designs to school? NO. That's the most ridiculous reason I've ever heard. It almost seems like the school wants to put their students in suspension programs because they don't commit anything more serious than wearing something that violates the school's strict dress policy. I am so glad for the students there since they finally are free to express their feelings without having to be stopped by their school's ridiculous policy. Even public schools - which tends to have the most loose dress policy - do not put students in suspension programs because they wore something that violates their dress policy.
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7 comments:
i agree with the judges decision also because i think it is ridiculous to go that far for dress code. to stop gang activity from occuring on campus, there is a need to make some adjustments, but to enforce such a strict dress code to only being able to wear 8 solid colors, is over the line. for a girl to be punished for the SOCKS she is wearing is absolutly unfair and unjust. it strongly violtes the first amendment.
this is outrageous! the school went tot far to enforce the dress code. im sure the winnie the pooh socks were really gang related and was a big distraction to the learning environment.
I think that the dress code is outrageous! When has denim directly correlated with gang activity? President Bush probably wears jeans at home. Peacemakers and UN members most likely have denim clothing too. I think the school needs to take ACTUAL measurable actions to stop gang activity and not by just enforcing a silly and unreasonable no denim rule.
I know many dress codes in other countries, too, but i think this dress code went too far. People can were socks whatever they want. I think that even the school discrict cannot tell students to wear blue shirts or green shirts unless they tell parents and students reasons what the dress code is for to make them totally agree.
Hi SuG!
So...I too, absolutely agree with the judge's decision. I find it unreasonable that the Napa School district would enforce such a strict dress code. If someone wants to wear Winnie the Pooh socks, it is not up to the school to violate their right to expression. Fortunately the students were able to regain their freedom to express, because i find it very weird that the students were forced to wear plain clothes.
I agree. I think it's ridiculous how a girl was exercising her freedom of expression by wearing what she wanted to wear but it was taken away from her and she was even sent to some program for that. It is ridiculous how her socks did not even display any kind of violence and the school still wastes its time to send her to some program. I think that the school should be concerned about other issues that may be happening in the school instead of a student wearing a winnie-the-pooh design socks.
i understand the school's idea on wanting to stop discrimination and gang violence, but at no time is it okay to tell kids they can't express themselves by wearing cartoon socks. This obviously was not done to affect anyone but themselves and the school needs to chill out on their policies.
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