Students Protest Ban on ‘Tagging’ T-Shirts

About 60 Sequoia Junior High School students in Simi Valley protested outside the school Tuesday afternoon against a ban on the wearing of T-shirts with pictures of spray-paint cans, a new fad that school administrators say promotes graffiti.

In the past two weeks, such T-shirts have become popular attire, prompting Principal Jan Britz to declare the craze a violation of the school’s clothing policy.

“It’s promoting something that is inappropriate,” Britz said. “Tagging is inappropriate,” she said, referring to the slang term for spraying graffiti on public or private property.

The school has always reserved the right to ban clothing with the potential to provoke violence or intimidate others with fear of violence, Britz said. The ban on tagging T-shirts is only the latest wrinkle, Britz said.

“They started showing up in the last two weeks, and it has had a spreading effect,” Britz said.

The students, some wearing the T-shirts, said the ban violates their right to freedom of expression and unfairly labels youths wearing them as taggers or gang members.

“I wear a bandanna and I’m not in a gang; I wear it to keep my hair back,” said Jennifer Levy, 15, a ninth-grader at the school and student body president.

“They’re treating us like we’re elementary students,” said Barbara Martinez, 15, a ninth-grader at Sequoia.

The school has not allowed students to wear hats or bandannas for three years because they were considered gang attire, Britz said. No other specific form of clothing has been banned until now, though attire depicting violence or vulgarity can be targeted on a case-by-case basis, she said.

“We’ve been very liberal, I think,” Britz said.

The students will not be punished, though the protest had to be halted by Simi Valley police when it blocked a public sidewalk on Cochran Street. School officials knew of the protest after having seen flyers circulated for several days, Britz said.

“It was after the school day and on their own time,” she said. “I respect their rights as students.”

Some students from other schools joined the protest, because they feared the ban could spread to other schools, they said.

“This is a trend,” said Samantha Fernholz, 16, an 11th-grader at Royal High School. “This is what people are wearing.”

Dan Fletcher said the fact that he wears tagging T-shirts does not mean that he is a tagger. He is not, he said.

“I wear it because it has a cool design on it,” said Fletcher, 15, a 10th-grader at Royal High School. “Now they’re going to do this to all the schools.”

One boy wearing a homemade version with the slogan “Tag” painted above the picture of a spray-paint can said he wasn’t a tagger. But his friend, also wearing a tagging shirt, corrected him.

“He tags, and I do too. It’s fun and it gets your name up,” said the friend, who declined to identify himself.

Students caught wearing the T-shirts can have them taken away, Britz said. The ban was applauded by the school’s parent booster group and parent council, Britz said.