In order to ensure equal and fair enforcement of dress code, student group meets with administration to find common ground

By: Paolo Calchi Novati

Incredulity filled the Marshall student body on Aug. 29 as the school attempted to enforce its irregularly enforced dress code. 

That would prove to be the second and last day of enforcement for the dress code, as widespread disapproval among students prompted the administration to action. 

That Sunday, Principal Lori Touloumian announced in her weekly email blast that assistant principal Marcela Valadez would be forming a dress code committee with students to review and update Marshall’s dress code. 

This committee is currently working on a set of modifications to the PUSD dress code regulations and Marshall’s dress code policy. 

Touloumian said that the administration noticed students’ complaints about the enforcement of the dress code and took them very seriously, hence, the committee. 

“We felt the need to really gauge our student body and get as much input as possible so that we would have them as partners in our process moving forward,” said Touloumian about the school’s decision to create the committee, which is currently made up of 16 students and Valadez, who takes on a sort of club advisor role during their meetings. 

“I think it’s [the dress code committee] a great idea. I think it’s good to involve students’ opinions on stuff like the dress code because it affects the students more than it really affects the staff,” Brenna Henley, a senior who is in the committee, said. 

On Aug. 29, a disproportionate amount of female students were stopped for dress code violations and forced to change into school-supplied shirts that complied with the rules. 

One example is junior Katherine Bleeker, who was stopped by a school security guard and an administrator on her way to class.

“I showed them the different dress codes, and they took away my phone, and they said I had to change and I refused because I wasn’t violating it. I had already missed 20 minutes of class at that point,” Bleeker said. 

The dress code was also enforced on Aug. 28, but on that day, the school simply called parents about dress code violations and tried to send their student home, because it did not yet have shirts for students to change into. 

Even though Touloumian initially stated that the committee’s new dress code would be available by September 30, the process is taking the committee longer than expected. Until a new policy is decided, the school will only enforce dangerous or “severe” violations of the dress code, according to Valadez.  

For the first part of their plan, the committee is planning to send out a survey to Marshall students, staff, and parents by late November to get opinions on a revised dress code that they have created. 

Once they put that one in place at Marshall, Valadez explained that the committee intends to propose a series of regulations to PUSD dress code policy at one of the district’s board meetings. 

“I want them to demonstrate that they have been thoughtful and done research, and that they have taken into consideration the viewpoints of all members of our educational community before we move forward. And so that takes time,” Valadez said about the committee presenting its suggestions to the board. 

Furthermore, according to Valadez, the committee wants staff to be better trained on how to enforce the dress code. 

“There were some staff members, when they were enforcing the dress code, were saying some things that were not consistent with the policy itself,” she said.