Dress codes focus on girls.
Schools clamp down on skimpy clothing.

By Evan
Henerson and
Valerie
Kuklenski
Staff Writers


WOODLAND
HILLS --
Midway through
praising the
grooming
habits of Taft
High School's
student
population,
Assistant Principal Sharon Thomas spotted someone in
need of an adjustment.
"Sara, don't forget to pull that shirt down," Thomas said to a
thin blonde, who tugged down her skin-tight white shirt so it
covered the waistband of her olive-color pants. Her midriff
no longer exposed, the honor student was back in
compliance with the school dress code.
As hundreds of thousands of students return to class this
week, so, too, do principals and teachers to their seasonal
roles as campus fashion police. But instead of sniffing out
teenagers in baggy pants or gang-inspired clothes and
hats, as they've had to do in years past, school officials
have a new target: girls in skimpy shorts, plunging tops
and micro-miniskirts.
"I guess the fad is to have the lower-cut pants and the
higher tops," Thomas said. "That may be fine for the beach
or for going out with their friends, but for school, it's not
appropriate.
"Students are here for instructional purposes, and any time
you have that extra skin showing, it's a distraction."
While the wholesome look of teen idol Hilary Duff is still
popular, it's the tantalizing, you-know-you-want-it look of
pop stars Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera that the
kids want _ and that their teachers discourage.
"It's what the stores are selling," said Sandra Lee Collins,
principal at Christopher Columbus Middle School in
Canoga Park. "The stores are selling whoever the kids
watch or see on TV or in the movies. That could be good or
bad, depending upon how you look at it."
During the summer's final back-to-school shopping
weekend, some retailers at Westfield Shoppingtown
Topanga enticed customers with photo displays and
mannequins that showed off their latest hip-huggers,
lingerie-style camisoles and pleated micro-mini plaid
skirts. Abercrombie & Fitch had a sales counter display of
its quarterly magazine-catalog, with the wrapper touting it
as "the Sex Ed Issue."
"People decide who they are based on what they're
wearing," said Tal Gozani, curator to Lauren Greenfield's
"Girl Culture" photo exhibition that opened this week at the
Skirball Cultural Center. "The kids are so preoccupied and
it comes up in every interview I read.
"By manipulating what they wear, they can manipulate how
people view them. Some girls like that kind of power, and
some don't."
And it's not just high schoolers who are faced with this
situation. Middle school preteens who, upon receiving their
end-of-summer dress code reminder, sometimes have
been driven back to the mall in search of code-worthy
clothing.
Browsing the racks of American Eagle Outfitters with her
mother, 13-year-old Stephanie Walsh said she likes her
school's dress code, which forbids low-slung pants, short
shorts and spaghetti-strap tops.
"It makes our school nicer and neater and clean-looking,"
said the eighth-grader at Millikan Performing Arts Magnet
School in Sherman Oaks. "The girls can get out of hand _
the boys, too."
Principal Norman Isaacs uses myriad tactics to make sure
students abide by the school's dress code. He calls
parents of violators to demand a change of outfit or
assigns clothing scofflaws after-school chores.
He also photographs inappropriately dressed students
and sends the images to parents with the caption, "Do you
know this child?"
Carol Vaughn, whose daughter, Jessica, has run afoul of
the dress code at Granada Hills High School, said such
policies are too restrictive and are crafted without regard to
Southern California's warm weather.
"It's difficult in the Valley for kids to know how to dress,
particularly when they're imposed with a very strict dress
code," Carol Vaughn said. "With the heat factor and with
what is available in stores for them to buy, it's especially
difficult for the girls."
"Cool," however, was not the intent of 12-year-old Marita
Lawson, who turned up for the first day of school at
Columbus Middle School dressed to test dress code
boundaries.
While Marita wasn't showing skin, she figured the holes in
her shoes and the chain in her pocket were probably worth
a citation or two. Her friend Adriana Calderon, also 12,
sported boots, a plaid hat, spiked collar and a leather
trench coat over a Pink Floyd T-shirt.
"My mom said I look cute and I seriously take that offensive
because that's not cool right there," said Marita.
"We're not trying to look cute."
----------------------------




The pics that went with this story were really funny....

Carol Vaughn's daughter was dressed like a street walker...the girl had on a pair of short shorts and a bandana/halter on...


parents want the schools to teach the kids-
how can they if the parents don't teach the kids to follow simple rules???

the stupid kids defy the rules, get in trouble and the parents go ballisitic, lolololol, had they taught their kids to repsect the rules do you think they would have that problem?