The dress code at Linganore High School (LHS) may seem easy for students to understand, but individual students may or may not agree with some of the rules.
In particular, some students have called out aspects of the dress code policy, Policy 439, such as restrictions on wearing accessories and hoodies as outdated or targeting certain groups of students.
LHS junior Rayyan Siddiqui believes the rules are fair and disagreed that it targeted certain groups of people.
“I think the rules are fair because they try to make them as fair for all students as possible to avoid arguments and disagreements with some students,” Siddiqui said.
Junior Alex Thomas, however, does see how aspects of the current policy appear to target certain students.
“The current dress code has a lot of wording that targets women–kind of like the shoulder strap rules, which doesn’t really apply to men–so, it’s obviously targeting girls,” Thomas said.
According to Thomas, a member of the Student Government Association (SGA), Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) has a policy committee meeting to talk about eliminating the “discriminatory” policy wording choices so that the dress code policy is more inclusive for both men and women.
“We are currently talking about eliminating certain word choices in the dress code, so that no one feels like they are being targeted or feels ashamed,” Thomas said.
Linganore assistant principal Raeda Zietoon shared that the rules do not target certain groups of students like boys and girls. She believes the rules help students stay focused, and the goal is for students to be in school for the entire school day without having to go home to change because of a dress code violation.
“We try to make the rules as fair and easy as possible, so that if we see anyone wearing something that could possibly be offensive or inappropriate, we make sure they are aware of it and that they don’t make this mistake again,” Zietoon said. “We want to make sure students don’t get distracted by what they’re friends are wearing and that they stay in school throughout the school day. We don’t want any student to have to leave class [to come to the office] because of something they’re wearing.”
Linganore P.E. teacher Rachael Easterday also shared her opinion on the purpose of the dress code policy.
“When I teach a class, I make sure that my students wear something that’s appropriate to wear in school and that they’re also comfortable with it,” Easterday said.
While Thomas disagrees that the dress code policy helps students stay focused, he does see its importance.
“I wouldn’t say the dress code helps students stay more focused, but I would say that it kind of sets the standard for the future like how people dress in the workplace and the community,” Thomas said.
FCPS Board of Education (BoE) President Karen Yoho shared that the BoE is in the process of reviewing the student dress code.
“The dress code policy will be updated based on a lot of what we’ve heard from students as well as administrators who have to enforce it,” Yoho said. “One of the things that people in the past have done is covering up certain clothing such as short pants or short tops, and at some point, students need to be responsible for their own clothing.”
