Freedom of Dress : Fellow Students Congratulate 14-Year-Old for Leading Reversal of School Policy

Except for the occasional congratulations from his classmates, Thursday was a normal school day for 14-year-old John Spindler. He woke up, got dressed, went to class, came home, and went to baseball practice.

But school days have not always been so easy or typical for the Simi Valley ninth-grader, whose protest of Valley View Junior High School’s dress code last fall triggered a federal lawsuit and national media attention.

For a boy who never considered himself a rebel, a settlement in U. S. District Court announced Wednesday abolishing part of that policy came as a validation of his quiet stand against the school system. Some students even stopped in the hallways Thursday to praise him.

“Kids were congratulating me,” John said. “They said, ‘Thanks.’ ”

Some students, however, were unaware of the settlement.

Holding a blue letter sent home with Valley View students Thursday, ninth-grader Pat Jakowchik read about the policy change. “It’s cool,” he said. “They’re letting us wear shirts.”

Picking up his son and daughter at Valley View on Thursday, parent Don Otto said the provision was a mistake from the beginning.

“It was going a bit too far,” he said. “You don’t solve discipline problems by telling a kid he can’t wear a flag on his shirt. Let’s spend our time on getting our kids educated.”

A soft-spoken boy who loves baseball and gets good grades, John thought the policy prohibiting T-shirts decorated with writing or pictures was an infringement on his rights and decided to fight it.

The restrictive dress code was created to promote a professional learning environment and to improve school safety in the wake of the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old student last year. *

In August, after officials sent notification to parents announcing the the policy change, he went shopping with his mother, buying three T-shirts adorned with patriotic symbols such as the American flag and the bald eagle to wear in protest of the dress code.

“I bought the T-shirts because I love my country and that’s how I would fight for it,” he said.

But school administrators refused to let the boy attend classes wearing anything but a plain T-shirt. At one point, an administrator tried to forcibly remove one of John’s shirts, mother Ellen Spindler said.

“He was told he could either take off his shirt and attend classes or work in the counselor’s office or go to another school,” she said.

None of those options were acceptable to the family, however. “He was not going to be held in a counselor’s office like an outcast,” she said.

After John was repeatedly sent home from school for wearing his shirts, Spindler contacted the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a federal lawsuit against the Simi Valley Unified School District, alleging the boy’s constitutional rights had been violated.

The case was settled Wednesday with the district agreeing to rescind the T-shirt policy.

The Spindlers’ fight against the school district met with varied reactions, however. Many parents called the family’s East Simi Valley home to praise their actions.

But at a school board meeting in October, dozens of parents voiced their support for the policy and some criticized the Spindlers for trying to dissolve a provision designed to bolster campus safety.

One critic even left a message on the family answering marching calling them “dirty rotten communists.”

The barrage of media attention and the school’s resistance to let John go to classes in his patriotic shirts was difficult for the family, members said. It was particularly hard on John’s father, Dale Spindler, a veteran of the Vietnam War.

“It became more personal for me because I was in Vietnam,” he said. “I saw friends I went to high school with draped in that flag.”

*

The Spindlers’ victory came as a relief for the family, who said they want to return to life out of the spotlight.

John is turning his attention now to perfecting his pitching arm. Someday, if the baseball strike is ever settled, he said, he would like to be a major league player.

As for his attire, John said he plans to wear one of his favorite patriotic shirts to school Monday when the policy change goes into effect. Until then, he is abiding by the rules.

“My lawyer told me not to wear anything until Monday,” he said.