Prohibition on Baggy Clothing Is Protested : Education: Students say an Oak Park school’s ban is unreasonable. The principal says it’s for their own protection.

When Brooke Murphy returned to school Wednesday after an extended Christmas vacation, she sported the latest in teen-age fashion: men’s boxer shorts peeking over the waistband of baggy blue jeans slung low over her hips.

She picked the outfit herself, she said, and her parents paid for it as a Christmas present. Brooke made the choice despite a notice sent home right before the vacation that there would soon be a new rule at Oak Park’s Medea Creek Middle School: no excessively baggy clothing allowed.

“I think it’s stupid,” said Brooke, 14, an eighth-grade student at Medea Creek. “You should be able to dress the way you want.”

Medea Creek Principal Laurel Ford and some parents worry that the oversized pants that drag along the floor resemble clothing worn by gang members, and that Medea Creek students might mistakenly become targets of gang violence.

“We’re saying it’s not safe for kids to dress like gang members in a society where gang members commit so much violence,” said Ford, noting that other Ventura County districts have banned oversized clothes.

Some parents agree.

“It is really ridiculous to be outraged about something that protects our children,” said parent Carla Gramig, whose sixth-grade son goes to Medea Creek. “In this day and time, you have to be careful.”

But parent Paul Felger, whose has a son in the eighth grade at Medea Creek, said he was concerned that the guidelines will infringe on his child’s right to freedom of expression.

“I’m opposed to dress codes unless they’re voluntary,” Felger said. “What if gangs all of a sudden decided to wear suits and ties? This should be between parents and the child.”

Notice of the new guidelines was sent home to parents shortly before Christmas vacation, which was extended until Wednesday to give teachers two planning and training days.

The guidelines are scheduled to go into effect Feb. 1, but Ford said parents were given advance notice in hopes that they would refrain from buying their children baggy clothing as gifts.

Ford said students are asked “to wear clothes as intended by the manufacturer.” According the rules, that means the waistline should be at the waist, not at the hips.

Specifically, the guidelines prohibit pants that are torn or drag along the ground; outfits that show underwear or “private parts”; clothes that look like underwear; strapless tops; shoes without backs; hats, and shirts with foul language or with pictures that advertise alcohol, cigarettes or illegal substances.

In general, the rules state, a student’s appearance “may not create a disturbance.”

Ford said parents of students who violate the dress code will be contacted, with the hope that they can be persuaded to cooperate once the rules are further explained.

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On Wednesday, some students--most of them dressed in baggy pants--complained that the dress code was intrusive.

“I don’t like it,” said Anna Travis, 13, an eighth-grader whose black baggy pants slung way below her waist. “I have to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe.”

Added Brooke, “Not everyone who dresses like this is in a gang. There are no gangs at Medea Creek.”

“I go back to when I was in the 11th grade and they did away with dress codes,” said Marti Ketchum, who was one of the parents responsible for helping determine the guidelines. “It was all peace and love. This is not a close parallel to that. Things are more dangerous now.”