Schools in PB crack down on protesters of dress code
Posted on Saturday, October 7, 2006
PINE BLUFF - A Friday protest of the uniform policy at Watson Chapel schools resulted in 32 citations and 19 students being sent home for wearing black wristbands.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas said it intended to file a lawsuit next week on behalf of the students and their parents, saying that wearing the wristbands was protected as free political speech under the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.
"We're going to go to federal court and ask the judge to order the district to stop doing what it's doing,"ACLU of Arkansas Executive Director Rita Sklar said. "This is about the stifling of free speech."
Sklar said her office was preparing documents Friday and expected to file the complaint Monday or Tuesday in U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Watson Chapel Superintendent Danny Knight scoffed at the legal threat and said the district had no intention of loosening its tightened dress code.
"They seem to think that if they threaten me with the ACLU or some high-priced lawyer, I'll just bow down,"Knight said. "This has nothing to do with the First Amendment. It's annoying."
Watson Chapel schools are in Pine Bluff.
The wristband protest was organized by Fighting Education-Depriving Uniform Policies, or FEDUP, a group founded by sisters Wendy Crow and Amanda Lamb to protest the dress code, which was made more restrictive this school year to specify shirt colors, numbers of buttons and pockets, and other details.
Crow, who has three children enrolled in Watson Chapel schools, said all arrived at their respective campuses Friday wearing the wristbands. Her oldest, 15-year-old Chris Lowry, an eighth-grader at the junior high, was sent home for the day. Her younger children, 13-year-old Gunner Lowry and 7-year-old Matthew Kelley, were cited because it was their first uniform violation, and they were allowed to remain at school.
"Me, personally, I hate the uniforms,"Crow said. "It's teaching them to be lambs, not leaders."
A series of suspensions of students who violated the dress code by wearing pants with too many pockets, or shirts with too many buttons triggered the conflict between some parents and the school administration, Crow said. Watson Chapel Junior High enrolls about 870 students and the high school has 840 students.
Some parents who can afford only secondhand clothes have had trouble finding outfits that meet the district's requirements, Crow said. "Those dependent on hand-me-downs and Goodwill can't necessarily go there anymore."
Crow, who organized a street protest in Pine Bluff on Sept. 30, said she plans to attend a School Board meeting Monday night at which the dress code is to be discussed.
District guidelines dictate that students at the high school wear khaki pants with belt loops and a white polo-style shirt with two or three buttons. The dress code is the same for junior high students, except the polo-style shirts must be hunter green. All students must wear an identification badge, too.
The more-restrictive elements of the uniform policy were approved in March for the 2006-07 school year. The administration says the uniforms improve campus security, help improve test scores and diminish schoolyard teasing based on differences in wardrobe.
In total, the district issued 32 uniform violations Friday: six at the high school; 24 at the junior high school; and two at elementary schools. Most of the suspensions were for one day, which means those students can return to school Monday when midsemester exams begin. But at least one student was suspended for three days, meaning he could miss the tests.
Crow and Lamb said teachers heard about the protest planned for Friday and, on Wednesday, agreed to move up the dates for the exams so that protesters would miss their tests. Knight denied that accusation.
"That's a bold-faced lie,"Knight said. "Teachers don't get together and do those kinds of things. There is no conspiracy against the kids."
Karen Phillips, who has two children enrolled in Watson Chapel schools, said she had a bad day Friday. Both of her children, 17-year-old Nikki Phillips and 15-year-old Joey Phillips, wore wristbands to the high school and junior high, respectively. Both were summoned to the principal's office and were told they had violated the uniform policy. Neither was sent home because they had committed no previous uniform violations. But Phillips went to the schools and took them home anyway.
"This has turned into a godawful mess,"Phillips said. "Now I'm buying two sets of clothes and I'm having to wash all that, too."
Phillips said she never wholeheartedly supported a uniform policy. But in terms of safety and uniformity for the campus and its students, she was willing to accept the district's decision. That was back in 2001, when the policy wasn't as stringent as it is now.
"It's just bull,"she said. "It's gone too far."
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