San Benito High School administrators last week enacted a stricter dress code policy and, according to some students, staff members began more frequently advising kids to remove American flags to adhere to a district rule against items that may stir gang-related tensions.
School officials have made a bold move in response to what Sheriff Curtis Hill called a major increase in gang activity at San Benito High, but they’ve only stalled on addressing the bigger problem and, in doing so, sent an offensive lesson to high school students about the country’s symbol of sacrifice and freedom.
This is yet another sign that schools must get back to a focus on educating while curtailing staff members’ time spent on regulating kids’ clothing and resulting confrontations.
What administrators are missing about their sweeping change to the dress code last week is that gang members, no matter what signs and city names school officials ban, will inevitably find another way to express their affiliations no matter how many lines are added to their list of restrictions.
There’s a simple, non-offensive, cost-saving solution that would end the problem in this case – and that’s implementing a uniform policy allowing one or two neutral colors.
A uniform policy – for instance, allowing just black and gray as San Andreas High School does – would act as an equalizer to many of these gang-related tensions. It also would ease concerns some might have about the dress code’s fairness or perceived discrimination.
Parents and students might contend, on the other hand, that a uniform policy at a public school would depress students’ ability and rights for freedom of expression. That argument, however, goes out the door when considering the long list of restrictions on campus that got much longer Wednesday. A depressed freedom of expression already exists.
There is one major, legitimate concern, and that’s the timing of such decisions. A uniform policy should be implemented over a couple of years to ease families into the change. By doing so, the district would answer any concerns about families’ affordability of the new clothes.
Timing is an area where school administrators already badly missed the boat with their ill-warned changes implemented last week. They had positive intentions, to cut back on gang activity. But their solution only clouded the problem and left many families – some that can’t and shouldn’t have to afford it – scrambling to find new clothes barely a month into the new school year.
