Junior High Students in Gardena Skip Class to Protest Dress Code

A new dress code at Peary Junior High School in Gardena triggered a walkout by nearly 180 students Tuesday, but the protest appeared to have trickled down Wednesday to 11 students who walked out after roll call.

Principal Alvin L. Hayes Sr. said he saw the students leaving the campus at 9 a.m. Wednesday and that they were joined outside the campus by four other students who had not reported to school.

“We know 90% of them,” Hayes said.

The new dress code, which was effective Monday, was imposed by the school’s leadership council, a 16-member shared decision-making group that includes faculty, parents, community members, a student and the principal. The code was given to students on Friday to take home for parents’ signatures, Hayes said.

He said the code is similar to standards issued to students in past years. The previous code barred gang-oriented clothing in general, but the new rules spell out prohibitions against specific items, including hats, hair nets, bandannas, gloves, a single earring and gang colors. Other new restrictions ban clothing with holes and sun dresses.

The code advises students to “dress as if you are coming to work in a professional place. You are. School is a business for you.”

But many of the school’s 1,936 students walked out in protest Tuesday, arguing that the rules are unfair and impinge on their personal freedom.

“I think it’s dumb,” said ninth-grader Danny Gutierrez, who said he participated in the walkout. “They think it’s all gang stuff, but some of it isn’t.”

“I believe you should be able to wear whatever you want to wear,” said a ninth-grader who participated in the walkout and asked that her name not be used.

“It’s ridiculous,” said the student’s mother, herself a Peary graduate. “I refused to sign (the form).”

Seventh-grader Shawnee Guilford, 12, asked: “If the parents allow it, what does the school care? What right does the school have?”

Hayes said there have been no gang-related incidents at the school but that all the restrictions are intended to promote saftey on campus.

“We’re concerned about what attire creates problems that cause our school environment not to be a good learning environment,” Hayes said.

The school has received favorable comments from some parents, but homeroom teachers were still tallying the forms that had been signed and returned, Hayes said.

A second roll call was taken at the end of the day Tuesday in an effort to determine how many students participated in the first walkout, Hayes said. Officials counted 176 fewer students, but some of those may have had legitimate excuses for being off campus, he said.

After conferences with parents, school officials will decide on a case-by-case basis how to discipline students who participated in the walkout, Hayes said. Possible punishment could include suspension or transfer to another school, he said.

Hayes said the leadership council’s next meeting is Jan. 11, and the dress code has not been scheduled on the agenda. But, he said, “I would imagine that would be a subject of discussion.”

Ninth-grade twins Karla and Kandy Vega, 14, said they hoped the restrictions might be loosened.

Said Karla: “That’s why we come to public school, to wear what we want to wear.”

But, Kandy added: “maybe we’ll just have to put up with it.”