HUNTINGTON BEACH : New Dress Code for Schools Considered

An updated dress code that cracks down on gang-related attire will be considered tonight by the board that governs all high schools in Huntington Beach, Westminster and Fountain Valley.

Among other restrictions, the new code would ban the wearing of “baggy or oversized clothing capable of concealing weapons,” and it would forbid “spikes or chains on any article of clothing.”

The board of the Huntington Beach Union High School District is expected to give final approval to the new dress code at its meeting at 7:30 p.m. at district headquarters, 10251 Yorktown Ave., Huntington Beach. The board governs Huntington Beach High, Edison, Marina and Ocean View high schools in Huntington Beach, and Westminster High and Fountain Valley High in those cities.

“So far, there hasn’t been any big controversy over this,” Assistant Supt. John Myers said Monday. The proposed code was introduced and given an initial reading at the school board’s March 22 meeting.

“This would be the first update of our student dress code since 1987,” Myers said. The proposed code was drafted by a committee composed of administrators, teachers, classified employees, parents, law enforcement liaison personnel and students. The committee was formed in October and had six meetings, Myers said.

The new code would allow each high school to have its own safety committee, composed of teachers, students and administrators.

These committees would be empowered to add provisions to the dress code geared to conditions in their communities. They would meet periodically to add prohibited items to the dress code that reflect changes in local gang attire.

The new dress code also would generally forbid “clothing which shows or conveys messages of a sexual tone, including but not limited to obscene symbols, signs or slogans.”