SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Parents Urge Look at Dress Code Policies

A group of parents of Aliso Viejo Middle School students voiced their support of the school’s principal in the wake of allegations that she has fostered a climate of prejudice and racial insensitivity at the school.

At the same time, the parents encouraged trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District on Monday to examine policies on dress codes and discipline that could be interpreted as unfair toward minority students.

“To the extent that district policies can be misunderstood . . . they need to be revised,” said parent Patricia Ashley, who organized a petition drive among parents last month in support of the the school’s principal, Cheryl Lampe.

Ashley and other parents said district dress codes and discipline policies intended to protect campuses from crime and gang influences may emphasize those concerns too specifically. A minority student told to change attire--which although similar to those of gangs may also be fashionable or trendy--may feel the order was a racially motivated accusation of gang affiliation, the parents said.

“The label of being a gang member that you hang around a child’s neck . . . can become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Fred T. Ashley, Patricia’s husband.

The accusations against the school’s principal and her staff came to light last month when a group of African American and Latino parents appeared before trustees to complain that the new school’s administrators and teachers were singling out minority students, particularly African Americans, for harsh discipline.

Some of the accusations leveled against the school and Lampe by the previous group of parents and relatives of African American and Latino students were that their children were unfairly accused of being gang members because of the clothes they wore and games they played with hand symbols.

Aliso Viejo Middle School’s enrollment is 87% white, 6% Latino, 4% Asian and 3% black.

The nine parents who addressed trustees Monday said they did not intend to discredit the previous group’s concerns, but they said they were firmly behind Lampe and her staff.