Mesa Public Schools (MPS) is looking to adopt more equitable changes to their dress code policy – details of which the governing board hasn’t shared. The MPS Governing Board didn’t respond to request for comment from The Arizona Sun Times by press time – their communications staff told The Sun Times that district offices closed on Friday.
This week, MPS introduced a revamped policy that specifies certain, explicit restrictions, such as an outright ban on clothing that depicts “hate speech,” and limits any enforcement that might “reinforce or increase marginalization or repression of any group,” such as gender identity or expression and body type or size.
At the board meeting on Tuesday, MPS General Counsel Kacey Gregson revealed that the board received an additional set of documents detailing specifics and regulations for the updated policy, which they chose not to share with the public.
“I do want to remind you [the board] that the public was only able to see the proposed policy, which is what the board is being asked to consider. But they did not have access to the accompanying proposed regulation that was put before you and the administrative content,” said Gregson. “So if any of the [public] comments that you got seemed like there was confusion or they felt that the policy was much more vague than what we previously had – that might be why. Just wanted to make sure that you all were aware that they’re not seeing the much more detailed proposal regulation, which we provided for you to see what day-to-day implementation of your policy would look like if you chose to move forward with adopting it at your next meeting on July 13. So, I just wanted you to keep that in mind and to remember that the policy is intended as your broad vision statement as and your guidance to us as a district about how you envision a dress code looking for Mesa Public School students, and then the regulation is where you’re gonna see all the details about prohibited clothing, required items, enforcement, the more specifics.”
It’s unclear why the board didn’t include those documents with the proposed policy for public review. Gregson explained to the board that they had to first adopt the policy in order to implement the regulations outlined in these accompanying documents.
“Students do have rights to express their political beliefs […],” added Gregson. “The only time that would come into play is, I mean, if it was something that was perceived as ‘hate speech,’ or promoting violence of any kind, or if it caused a substantial interference with the learning environment or if the site-based administrator had a reasonable belief that it would substantially disrupt the learning environment. As a general matter if a student wanted to wear a t-shirt expressing support for a certain political candidate, that is something we would continue to allow.”
MPS spent about an hour discussing the complete overhaul of the dress code policy. One of the main concerns that they cited was that 90 percent of students cited for dress code violations were females.
Gregson said that the dress code changes have a lot to do with how it made certain demographics of students feel. She alluded to data that backed her claim, though none of that information was provided with the public board meeting documents.
“A big part of the ‘why’ is – why now? Why this school year?” said Gregson. “It’s just – we’ve learned so much about students’ social, emotional health and the importance of making school a safe and healthy place. Dress codes of the past – we’ve collected data over the years to show that sometimes they have unintended consequence of either marginalizing certain groups of students or making certain students feel unsafe[.]”
During public comment, one mother named Lisa Edwards raised concern that the board wasn’t properly defining “hate speech” in their proposed policy. She asked the board members to share the regulations with parents.
“I think it’s vital that we get an entire copy of whatever your regulations are going to be, sent out to all the parents to get confirmation and to get input from the parents before it’s signed off on as a board. I don’t believe that we should be just rubber-stamping [this policy],” said Edwards. “A concern I had in the wording – because all we get is this little blurb, I don’t have anything else – I did have a concern about ‘hate speech.’ Who determines that, right? You’re hearing so much stuff politicized that one group thinks something’s hate speech and another group doesn’t think it’s hate speech. We really need to be careful with who regulates that, who determines that. And if you’re going to determine something is hate speech or culturally insensitive, socially unacceptable or any of these other things – it needs to be written down.”
The new policy repeats several times that student appearance shouldn’t disrupt or undermine the “educational process.”
Additionally, the new policy no longer mentioned a dress and grooming standard objective on “adhering to social norms in preparation for future education and employment opportunities.”
The entirety of the proposed changes to the dress code policy is reproduced below:
Mesa Public Schools supports dress and grooming standards that further the District’s strategic goals of igniting a culture of learning and well-being and ensuring equitable educational access for all students. The Governing Board expects that all students will dress in a manner that is appropriate for the school day or for any school-sponsored event while respecting that responsibility for student dress and grooming resets primarily with the student and their parents/guardians.
A student’s appearance, including dress and grooming, must not disrupt the educational process, interfere with the maintenance of a positive teaching/learning environment, or compromise reasonable standards of health and safety. Attire or grooming that depicts or advocates violence, criminal activity, pornography, the use of alcohol or drugs, or hate speech is strictly prohibited. Administrators, teachers, and other school personnel will share responsibility for enforcing the District’s dress and grooming standards and shall have discretion, using the greatest degree of objectivity, to determine the appropriateness of student attire. Dress and grooming standards shall be applied consistently and in a manner that does not reinforce or increase marginalization or repression of any group based on race, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, cultural observance, household income or body type/size. Enforcement of these standards should focus on behavior that undermines the educational process more so than on student dress and should minimize the potential loss of educational time.
A committee of internal district stakeholders drafted the policy, according to MPS officials.
The policy hasn’t changed since 2006.
Tuesday was the first reading on the policy draft. The board will next consider it on July 13, where they will take a vote.
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mesa High School AZ entrance” by Bill Walsh CC BY-SA 2.0.
