C'mon....Really now...

[Deslock]

This trend is really starting to disturb me. This is becomimg truly anti-American, and everything against everything we served for.:


Quote:
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NAPA, Calif. - A seventh-grader might end up in court for wearing Winnie the Pooh socks to school. Toni Kay Scott, 14, was sent to an in-school suspension program called Students With Attitude Problems last year for violating a dress code, according to a lawsuit against the Napa Valley Unified School District and Redwood Middle School.


She had donned socks with the Tigger character from the Winnie the Pooh cartoons on them, along with a denim skirt and a brown shirt with a pink border.

But the school's policy requires students to wear clothes with solid colors in blue, white, green, yellow, khaki, gray, brown and black. Permitted fabrics are cotton twill, corduroy and chino. No denim is allowed.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Napa County Superior Court by The American Civil Liberties Union and a law firm on the girl's behalf, alleges that the dress code is unconstitutionally vague and too restrictive.

"We should be able to show everyone who we are and have a way to express ourselves, as long as we aren't showing off things that shouldn't be shown off at school," the teenager said in a statement.

The lawsuit said the policy goes too far and forces aesthetic conformity in the name of safety. The rules violate the California Education Code, said plaintiffs' attorney Sharon O'Grady.

A telephone message left Tuesday at Redwood Middle School was not immediately returned.
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WTF???? Winnie the Pooh is now grounds for suspension??? WTF??!!!

These policies of "conform at all costs, or be punished", like I said before, is NOT why I served my country. The school officials responsible for this should be roasted alive.

I can understand why they would want a general dress code, but this is just stupid, and senseless. She was placed in a suspension program and told she had "attitude problems", because of Winnie the *&^%$##$ Pooh socks ??!!!

God bless that girl for standing up for what's right.

[Rdaug27]

First it was prayer, now what its winnie the pooh? Ok tiger to be exact but damn thats messed up. I feel if schools are gonna put on these strict ass dress policies, then the school should have to either provide the cloths, or be able to provide them at a low cost.

Oh the school system pisses me off. In my school district there is a policy that if your child is/was running fever to not send the child to school until they have been at least 24 hours removed from the fever. I was married and my wife was stay at home, so if the kids were sick then they stayed home just as the rules say. Problem is the court doesn't see it that way. We were brought to court by the school district cause of how much school he missed and the judge told us "Send him to school sick. Its a hard world out there and the sooner your son sees that the better." WTF? This is a first grader not a damn middle/high school student. So the next year we switched schools from the old ass one he was in that was built in like the 20's, and he actually went some 6 weeks without missing a day. It was the old ass molded up school he was in that was making him sick.

[Zabka]

if it were a private school, that would be one thing. But a public school?

My high school had a dress code as well (public) in that we were one of the few schools with air conditioning, the principal wouldn't allow any shorts in school. i believe that there are some studies that point to less casual dress leads to better results in school and at work (articles i read when the whole business casual thing started sweeping through). She ultimately caved, but only after decades of this rule--actually, she retired beforehand.

But to determine the colors and the fabrics is simply ridiculous. No jeans. While that was once a policy in high end NY clubs, most of them allow jeans now that people who go to these clubs are wearing $200 jeans. Same thing with the sneaker rule too.

[Deslock]

Trust me, I'm not against dress codes. Because if we didn't have them the idiot girls would coming in there almost naked, and God only knows what they guys would wear.

But I cannot fathom why a full length denim skirt and Winnie the Pooh socks are going to be causing a huge distraction for other students.

Is there enough of a power of conformity in school from the students themselves? We don't need school officials on "power trips". Some just go too far.

[Zabka]

I agree with you Des, but the thing about a dress code is that it must be followed to the letter of the law without subjectivity. Otherwise, personal biases unscripted by the rules come into play. There could be uneven handling between preppier kids with other styles (hip hop, goth, etc) which then sets up a whole discrimination angle that could very well be true. The dress code shouldn't be targeting groups per se, but set a standard for all. In this case, I am guessing that the adminstrators properly followed the rules, but the rule is a completely moronic one to begin with.

[thatgirlkim]

so wait.. now tigger is evil.. well okay he jumps around alot and can be distracting... but wow.. when a beloved childrens character is outlawed... something is wrong with the world.. what next? Pooh as a a negative influence on childhood obesity?? The princesses dress too suggestively?? The Genie is evil because he does magic???? .. Come on people... when the school doest have a violence or drug issue and is up to National standards... WTF is the problem with socks!!!

[Tomahawk]

Tigger is Evil. She should have been expelled from the whole district!!

LMAO, silly Americans and your goofy rules. We had very few rules in my public system for dress. Girls couldn't wear mini skirts, tube tops (WTF are they?), or halter tops. Guys weren't allowed to wear "beaters" to school.

As for the study on dress code affecting grades, I completely reject that theory. I dressed like a friggin' "banger" and I was a straight A student. Meanwhile there were kids with crew cuts and their pressed and proper Gap TV commercial outfits that struggled to pass minimum standards. Grades have nothing to do with your dress. It's all your dedication and hardwork.

[Zabka]

Such studies don't apply to individual cases---and drawing conclusions like that is statistically invalid. Like saying 1out of 4 people have gential herpes and don't know it,so if you are in a room with 4 people, one has it. Just not true. Most statistics are based on some concept of a normalized distribution curve that small sample sizes don't address.

However, if people draw the conclusion that good dress=good performance, that is also obviously false. These studies show CORRELATION, not CAUSALITY. I think there is also potentialy some other issues in drawing these conclusions, but I don't have the studies on me to dissect.

Again, the application of the rule was probably correct whether it was Tigger, a Satanic figure, or a pro-Osama bin Laden figure. The rule must be applied evenly. However, that means the rule must be well written in the first place, and this one clearly is not. The fact that this policy meant a little girl with tigger on her socks got suspended clearly shows a big problem in the rule.

Also Tomahawk---i thought we already established the inferiority of Canadian educations, eh?

[Rdaug27]

Ok after re-reading this news story I realize its the girl, or at least someone on her behalf bringing this to court. What is one day in a "disciplinary" room. We called it 101. My step son has been sent there cause he didn't turn in an assignment. This is gonna end up like the 1 person opposed to prayer is school and us having to completely ban it cause its offensive to them. I also remember in school people being sent home cause of there cloths, what happened to that? Oh wait that would be refusing someones right to an education these days. :roll:

[CHRIST]

this was a public school? why is there a dress code in a public school that's retarded, I know most private schools do, but in a public school that's retarded.

[thatgirlkim]

more California schools are adopting dress code policies.. it varies sometimes district to district, and sometimes even school to school... I know schools within the district in the next city that some have dress codes while others dont... Its a strange strange world... and while I can see dress codes as far as pants and shirts.. that sort of thing, Ihave yet to see it extend to socks until now...

[Phoenix]

I am so glad I am not young this day and age. Kids can't do crap...

I used to have a purple mohawk and a skateboard attached to my ass and no one bugged me about it.

If I wear in school today I would have been suspended 50 times over. The sad part is I was a pretty smart kid (I don't know what happened tome either)

Think about all of the smart kids that just want to express themselves.

Oh well, good thing she wasn't wearing Donald Duck..he doesn't wear pants!

[shocker101]

Hey I got in trouble for the dress code this year. lol

[Zabka]

Was your skirt too short?

[Deslock]

I used to have a purple mohawk and a skateboard attached to my ass and no one bugged me about it.

That's my point. There can be a point where rules can be too draconian and actually violate the freedom to express yourself as an individual.

And that my friend, stands against everything our founding fathers and Constitution is for.

Inflexible dress codes are stupid. Recently where I wore work we hired a kid with a mohawk, and was seriously punk/Goth. Not only was he an excellent employee, he maintained a A+ average in school, he actually graduated Valedictorion of his class.

I understand what happened at Columbine was tragic, and horrible. But not every "wierd" kid is going to go off on a killing spree.

Rather than stupid draconian dress codes, I'd rather see them put this effort into stopping the bullying, drug abuse, and rampant sexual activity leading to unwanted young pregnancy and unwed mothers.

Americans always seem to over react. Columbine didn't happen because those kids wore dark trenchcoats. But I guess it's easier to attack denim skirts and Winnie the Pooh socks, than the real issues at hand with our young people.

Every day more and more of our freedoms are being taken away to promote a false sense of security. Benjamin Franklin said:

Those that are willing to trade freedom for security, deserve neither.

There is no way regardless of this school's stupid rules, can tell me that this poor girl was disruptive of her school enviroment, by wearing a denim skirt, and Tigger socks.

What the Hell ever happened to "common sense" in this country anymore?. This situation should've never, ever escalated to the point the courts had to be involved.

But that's the overall problem with people on power trips. When confronted, they will never back down and apologize, and admit they were wrong. Ever. Regardless of the situation at hand.

Such a damn shame. When being politically correct, is actually more important than doing the right thing. But hey, they were only following orders.

Right?.