Burbank Schools Leader Sees Dress Code as Gang Prevention

In September, Gov. Pete Wilson signed a bill that allows school districts to ban students from wearing clothing deemed to be associated with gangs. The Burbank Unified School District adopted an anti-gang dress code that took effect this week. Arthur N. Pierce, superintendent of Burbank schools, discussed the policy with Times staff writer Abigail Goldman.

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Question: What is gang-related apparel?

Answer: Elementary school examples include bandannas worn around the forehead, worn around the legs folded in certain ways or hanging from the back pocket, because those are gang-membership signals; hair nets not worn for health reasons but worn as a mode of dress; excessively baggy pants worn well below the waist; wool shirts with only the top button buttoned, worn over a white T-shirt over baggy pants--the total gang look; certain sports team jackets and caps, generally ones that have black and white as their theme colors; overalls of the farmer type with one strap worn unfastened--in that case the actual outfit is not a problem, but when worn in a certain manner, it becomes a problem.

Secondary-school apparel includes most of the above and, in addition, belt buckles with initials which are not the initials of the person wearing the belt, baseball-type hats, extra-long belts with excess strap hanging down or webbing-type belts, work-type pants that are cut off below the knees but worn with high knee socks or various combinations of those which are considered to be gang-related.

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Q: How did you decide which types of clothing might pertain to gangs?

A: This is a matter of observation and experience by the sight administrators and teachers and as validated by the Burbank Police Department.

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Q: Has there been gang activity in Burbank schools?

A: There has been gang activity in the community of Burbank and the surrounding communities. Fortunately, we’ve had almost no gang activity within the schools themselves. But the concern is that if a child comes to school in gang attire, then that student, whether or not a gang member, may be taken as a gang member. We want to avoid in Burbank the things which we hear about in surrounding communities.

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Q: How can you decide the difference between baggy and overly baggy or fashion and gang attire?

A: There’s no perfect answer to that. I believe that our administrators have enough experience in working directly with the students at their campuses. Each of our secondary campuses is assigned a police officer, known as a school resource officer, and the interchange between the (officer) and the campus administrator helps them make judgments about (whether it is) simply fashion? Or even if it is fashion, is it fashion which puts that student and anyone standing near the student at risk?

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Q: Isn’t there also room for selective enforcement? If it’s left to an administrator or a teacher, isn’t there a chance that good students can get away with dressing in a fashion that a poorer student might not?

A: There certainly is that chance. Again, by working closely with the administrators, who are the ultimate arbiters of this, we would hope to mitigate against that occurring in the classroom.

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Q: What are the consequences of breaking the code?

A: Clothing is easily correctable. If a student were to refuse to change when an adult asked them to, then the parent and the student and the school would have to work out an appropriate discipline. Ultimately, violation of school rules, i.e., defiance, could mean expulsion, but it is highly unlikely that one would get to that point on an issue of this nature. The next level less than that is suspension and, again, it is unlikely suspension would be used. But under the law, we believe it could be used.

The much more likely consequence is the one we have been using even without the new state law. If a student comes dressed inappropriately, if it’s something to be turned inside out or taken off, such as a belt, then the student turns the item inside out or takes the belt off and leaves it in the principal’s office, and it can be retrieved after school. Another alternative is that some schools have a supply of sweat shirts and sweat pants and, if a student is wearing something inappropriate, then they’re asked to exchange that item or cover it with a sweat shirt or sweat pants.

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Q: Gang clothing can change as quickly as you can codify it. How are you going to keep up?

A: We’re never going to keep 100% up. There will be things on the list which are outdated and no longer need to be on there. There will be some things that aren’t on the list that should be. One of the beauties of this policy is it leaves it to the administrator to actually develop the list, so we can change that as frequently as we need. The exact wording, for example, on athletic attire will be generic enough so that if Raiders jackets are no longer the issue, but Kings jackets are, that decision can be made and enforced.

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Q: Can’t the way students dress be seen as just an attempt to express themselves, or to buck authority in a non-confrontational way?

A: I’ve been a superintendent of schools since the 1960s and therefore I can relate, from an administrative viewpoint, to the definite testings of authority that took place then. The difference between the dress of the ‘60s and 1990 is the safety of the person who is wearing that clothing. We’re talking about, literally, life and death.

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Q: Can a code like this really stem violence?

A: We believe that it can reduce the likelihood that someone would become a target, and that is very important. Our schools in Burbank have been gang-neutral. We don’t have gang-related incidents on our campuses. And we intend to keep it that way. We certainly see in other communities and other states that have had voluntary uniforms that, in fact, the whole tenor of that school seems to be more positive.

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Q: Is there any proof that asking students to dress or not to dress a certain way actually reduces the number of violent incidents?

A: The Burbank Police Department has informed us that the manner in which one dresses is directly related to the likelihood of that person’s being targeted in a potential attack situation.

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Q: But have any schools actually reported a reduction in violent incidents after imposing these rules?

A: I can’t give you statistics because I, frankly, don’t have any. But what we hear from other administrators and teachers are those kinds of comments that, yes, when we enforce a dress code, the number of incidents either decreases or does not increase as rapidly as it does in schools that do not have a code.

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Q: There are some critics who would charge that you’re treating a symptom of a symptom of a problem--that gang attire is a symptom of gang activity which is a symptom of much larger social problems. Are you treating the wrong thing?

A: As with any illness, you treat the symptoms, but you also deal with the illness, and the illness is what you really need to be addressing.

The city of Burbank and the Burbank Unified School District jointly, I believe, are doing all that we currently believe is possible to address the root problem, which is the formation of gangs, the membership in gangs, “tagging” and the antisocial behavior that are associated with those activities.

Where we find someone who is “infected,” or is about to be infected, we try to divert them. We’re not leaving it just at dress. We’re addressing alternative activities through recreation, alternative activities through the schools and enforcement of behavior.