School Ban on Gang-Type Clothes Proposed to Board

Concerned about the influence of gangs in local schools, school Supt. Arthur Pierce has proposed banning gang-related clothing such as baggy pants.

In a recommendation to the school board, Pierce said students could be suspended or expelled for defying the new dress code.

Earlier this year, John Burroughs High School banned students from wearing gang-like clothing, and last month Burbank High banned the wearing of baggy pants below the natural waistline. But Pierce is asking the school board to take advantage of a new law that allows districts to impose anti-gang dress codes throughout a district.

Pierce outlined his proposal to the school board Thursday night. Under the plan, Pierce would be able to change the policy in consultation with police and school officials as new trends with gang-clothing emerge.

Shannon Lundquist, a student representative to the school board from Burbank High School, pointed out that gang members would merely switch to using another kind of identifying symbol if certain kinds of dress are outlawed.

“I have many friends who wear the baggy clothes, who you know aren’t gang members,” Lundquist said after board President Elena Hubbell asked her to respond to Pierce’s plan.

District officials said they wanted to ban the clothing to protect students who may become targets if they are mistaken as gang members.

“What we’re trying to do here is give parents support at home,” Hubbell said, explaining that the new strict dress code would also help the parents deter their children from buying or wearing the clothes.

“I’ve been working for this a long time,” Hubbell said. “The state has finally fallen in with the local districts.”

Lundquist offered an alternative to the restrictive dress code--uniforms.

“Then, everyone would be equal,” she said.