ANAHEIM : School Dress Code Set to Be Approved

The Anaheim City School District Board of Education gave tentative approval to a dress code this week, although one member questioned whether it gives too much authority to school officials.

Board member Jeanne Blackwell said at this week’s meeting that she favors banning offensive or obscene clothing, but wondered how that would be defined and whether the penalties for violating the code were too strict.

Penalties range from being forced to change clothes, to confiscation of the clothes, to detention and suspension.

“I’m a little bit worried who will be deciding what is inappropriate, and I certainly don’t want to see any student expelled from school over something like this,” Blackwell said.

The dress code will prohibit students from wearing baggy pants, T-shirts with obscene or offensive messages, hats and other clothing that is “unsafe, dangerous or a health hazard.”

The dress code specifically bans any item of clothing that “contains offensive or obscene symbols, signs or slogans degrading any culture, religious or ethnic values.”

It also prohibits clothing that contains references to sex, drugs, alcohol or tobacco, communicates gang affiliations or depicts violence or destruction.

Also prohibited are hats, overalls that are not properly strapped over the shoulders and pants that “are not an appropriate size.”

The district has about 17,000 kindergarten through sixth-grade students at 21 schools in the downtown area. A final decision will be made at the board’s March 22 meeting.