One student wants to see changes to the district’s dress code. (WJBC File Photo)
By Andy Dahn
BLOOMINGTON – The District 87 school board approved next year’s student handbook Wednesday night, but one local eighth grader gave her thoughts on the district’s dress code before the vote. Grace Gauley is a student at Bloomington Junior High, and she said students should be allowed to wear sleeveless shirts without being sent to the office. Gawlee also has a problem with the district’s fingertip rule for the length of shorts.
“It’s very inconsistent on different bodies,” Gauley said. “That’s a problem because it’s not fair to anybody, but some girls can get away with much different length shorts than others.”
Gawlee also told board members that she would like to see the word “distraction” removed from the dress code because it demeans both male and female students. The eighth grader isn’t alone on the issue. She has received plenty of support from an online petition.
“I just kind of wrote a little summary of what I was talking about,” said Gauley. “I ended up getting 324 signatures, many from states and people that I didn’t know, and lots of amazing comments from amazing people that I don’t know. It was awesome.”
District Superintendent Barry Reilly said while Gauley makes good points, enforcing them isn’t so simple.
“If you think about trying to adopt a rule in which you have to measure shorts,” Reilly said. “You have to determine which types of sleeveless shirts are appropriate and inappropriate. That’s a very difficult thing to police.”
Reilly said despite the approval of the handbook, the board will likely discuss possible changes to the dress code in the future.
Andy Dahn can be reached at andy.dahn@cumulus.com.