A divided Tucson Unified School District Governing Board approved dress code changes that take effect immediately, with the majority praising the use of gender-neutral language to replace gender-specific rules.
The previous code unfairly resulted in disproportionate enforcement against female students and those who identify as female, most TUSD faculty and students surveyed about the issue — during months of district work on the proposed revisions — have said.
Board President Natalie Luna Rose and members Jennifer Eckstrom and Ravi Shah voted Tuesday night for the revisions. Val Romero and Sadie Shaw voted against them after unsuccessfully trying to add the wording that clothing must be “appropriate for the educational environment.”
Shah found that wording “too subjective” and Eckstrom agreed, saying it could be unevenly enforced across schools. Equitable enforcement for all students and across campuses is a prime goal for supporters of the code revisions.
“The times have changed,” TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo told the board before the 3-2 vote, saying that in his day dress “was just an expression of what you thought was cool,” but today is “an extension of how students identify.”
The district wants an enforceable policy that is “respectful of all students, regardless of how they identify, gender-wise, religion-wise, politically or socially,” Trujillo said.
The board extensively discussed comments submitted before the meeting by Tucson Magnet High School Principal Elizabeth Rivera, who said one line that was removed from the policy should have remained intact.
That was a requirement that students’ breasts, torsos and buttocks be covered.
“Students were wearing bikini tops and cut off shorts so extremely short to school that only covered private areas. Buttocks and full torsos will be showing with this revision,” Rivera wrote to the board.
But the board was told by TUSD Director of Student Relations Anna Warmbrand: “Staff don’t feel comfortable enforcing that piece.” She said most faculty, administrators and staff were emphatic and the consensus was: “’Don’t ask me to do that, I’m not going to do that.’”
She said most administrators, especially at high schools, said they wouldn’t put their staff, particularly male staff, and particularly in the case of female students, in that position of “qualifying what is happening to their (students’) bodies.”
Luna Rose, the board president, said she understands “administrators who don’t want to police female bodies and (bodies of) those who identify as female.”
Shah agreed, saying no one should be running around with rulers trying to measure how much buttock or breast is showing.
“I believe dress codes are inherently sexist and have been in history,” and are disproportionately directed to female students, said Luna Rose.
She asked if other phrases that remain in the dress code take care of the concerns about exposed chests and buttocks, particularly that see-through items of clothing are not permitted and undergarments must be covered.
Shah said yes, and also pointed to the first bulleted item in the revised dress code: “Students must wear clothing including both a shirt with pants or skirt, or the equivalent (for example dresses, leggings, or shorts) and shoes.”
Rivera, the Tucson High principal, had also said girls are wearing bralettes as tops and other undergarments as regular clothing. “We have had a student wear her string bikini thong under a pair of regular brief underwear to school with a silk lingerie top claiming her briefs were her bottoms and her underwear was underneath,” she wrote.
Board members Shaw and Romero were concerned about those examples, and Shaw wondered aloud about adding wording such as “excessive crop tops and bathing-suit-like clothing is not permitted.”
Shah countered that the requirement for “a shirt with pants or skirt” or equivalent rules out bathing suits, “which aren’t listed there.”
Added Eckstrom, “We are not in the business of telling females what a crop top is. That is not our job.”
Romero, however, said a student could say “I’ve got a shirt on,” but “can it be a half-shirt? A short-short skirt?” Shaw agreed the remaining language is loose for interpretation.
Responded Luna Rose, “What is a ‘shirt’? We could go on and on and be here for five years.”
Eckstrom and Luna Rose both said the remaining provision that “clothing must cover undergarments” is enforceable and adequate.
Luna Rose applauded TUSD administrators for the “progressive” use of gender-neutral wording, and Shah agreed, saying: “I want to make sure our trans and gender-nonconforming students are supported.”
Stakeholder feedback on the revisions included more than 1,800 TUSD students from every high school and select middle schools.
Other changes in the revised code include allowing head coverings as long as they don’t cover a student’s eyes.
The board also decided Tuesday night to make one additional change, removing the word hairdo from a section barring gang-related clothing and paraphernalia, due to concerns about potential racial profiling of hairstyles.
The revised policy also makes it easier for schools to propose their own dress codes. To do so, a school’s council must gather “broad public comments.” The code would have to be voted on by parents/guardians, receive 60% or more approval, and be approved by the TUSD Governing Board.
Get your morning recap of today's local news and read the full stories here: tucne.ws/morning
