The days of spaghetti straps, bare midriffs and exposed cleavage at Waimea High School are coming to an end soon. But please don’t call the attire of the new dress code, effective with the start of the 2004-05 school year,
The days of spaghetti straps, bare midriffs and exposed cleavage at Waimea High School are coming to an end soon.
But please don’t call the attire of the new dress code, effective with the start of the 2004-05 school year, “student uniforms,” says Nely Caberto, vice principal.
She and the students prefers the term “school wear.”
As a result of some students repeatedly and blatantly violating the school dress code that students played a major role in revamping a few years ago, the new dress code featuring student wear will be in place for the start of the new school year in August, she said.
Students were warned that if they did not comply with the revised student dress code, they would be made to implement a stricter policy.
“They’re not complying,” Caberto said, and the result has been classroom disruptions as certain female students with a flair for style, fashion and the latest trends continue coming to school with spaghetti-strap blouses and other tops that expose a tad too much skin.
“It tends to be a problem in the classroom.” It makes things uncomfortable for teachers and female peers, male students are reluctant to point out dress-code violations to female classmates for fear of harassment claims or other reactions, and students accused of violating the dress code get downright defensive, she explained.
The result is school wear.
Like previous dress-code revisions, this one, too, is “student-led,” Caberto said.
A dozen students presented ideas for new school-wear designs to the School Community Based Management (SCBM) council last night, and the student government is sponsoring a contest where students will win prizes for designs and logos chosen for approved school wear for the next school year, she said.
“It’s already a go,” she said of the revised dress code. What needs to happen next is for the SCBM council, made up of parents, teachers, students, administrators and other community members, to finalize the styles and make sure the price ranges on the new school wear are reasonable.
“I think it’s more a consensus,” Caberto said of students’ decisions to modify the dress code in favor of school wear. “It’s going to be student-designed.”
A variety of T-shirts, polo shirts, and other styles of tops should be offered. Members of sports teams will be able to wear their sports shirts to school. Students have researched different designs, and Caberto figures a variety of styles of shirts will be offered under the new dress code.
Kapa’a High School officials this school year instituted a revised dress code including a variety of T-shirts and other casual wear as student uniforms, but when students show up attired in the eight or nine different approved tops, “they don’t really look like uniforms,” Caberto commented.
Waimea Canyon School students already have school uniforms as mandatory, with even a type of T-shirt dress approved for use there. Most eighth-graders at Waimea Canyon move to Waimea High for their freshman year.
Teachers at Waimea High are all for the new plan, “because it will create a better learning environment in the classroom,” said Caberto. “I think it’ll be good for the teachers.”
Students will order school wear through the school, she concluded.
Associate Editor Paul C. Curtis may be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
