SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Schools Tentatively Approve Dress Code

Trustees in the Capistrano Unified School District have tentatively adopted a dress code that prohibits the district’s 30,000 students from wearing clothing associated with gangs or otherwise deemed disruptive.

With the new regulations, students will be prohibited from wearing such things as Los Angeles Raiders caps and jackets, baggy pants that allow underwear to show, Pendleton-type shirts with khaki pants, combat boots with flight jackets, chains, hair nets, bandannas, dangling belts, overalls and any other combination of clothing considered by law enforcement agencies to be gang-related.

The new dress code would also prohibit students from wearing any items that include language or symbols involving violence, sex, drugs, alcohol or tobacco, or that include symbols, signs, slogans or words degrading any gender, cultural, religious or ethnic values.

Several Orange County school districts, including those in Garden Grove, Tustin, Santa Ana and Orange, have adopted similar regulations that specifically restrict clothing associated with gangs.

While sensitive to the needs of students to express themselves through clothing, Capistrano trustees said they want a code that will keep campuses safe and discourage gang activity.

“We are blessed so far, let’s keep it that way,” Trustee Mildred Pagelow said.

Several parents in the audience applauded the dress code.

“It’s simply gang-inspired clothing and I don’t think that is anything we need to encourage in schools,” said Jill Kaplan, whose children attend elementary school in Laguna Niguel.

Student board representative Amanda Lofink of Dana Hills High School, however, said the dress code is a big issue at her school, especially the potential ban on all hats except those related to school athletics.

“We don’t see what is wrong with wearing hats,” she said. “It doesn’t harm anyone by wearing a hat. It’s a small thing to make such a big deal about.”

Lofink said she believes students will become involved in gangs no matter what dress codes are in place.

“We need to concentrate on what they’re thinking, not wearing,” she said.

Board President Marlene Draper said she would be willing to consider leaving it up to individual schools whether to ban hats and overalls.

The dress code will come back to the board for a final vote at a future date.

Until now, dress policies have been left up to each school, some of which already have in place regulations similar to those outlined in the district policy, officials said.

The district policy is designed to give schools flexibility in enforcing the policy and determining what types of clothing might be considered gang-related or inappropriate, officials said.

Punishment for those who violate the code may include detention, suspension, expulsion, reprimand or loss of privileges.