ACLU of Nebraska: School dress codes failing students

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – ACLU of Nebraska issued a report card Wednesday evaluating the costume codes of Nebraska’s 15 largest faculty districts — and the grades weren’t good.

Six of the 15 faculty districts evaluated are positioned within the Omaha-metro, with two extra simply exterior. ACLU analyzed the dress-code insurance policies — together with district-wide, grade-level, and particular person faculty insurance policies — of Omaha Public Faculties, Lincoln Public Faculties, Millard Public Faculties, Papillion La Vista Neighborhood Faculties, Elkhorn Public Faculties, Grand Island Public Faculties, Bellevue Public Faculties, Westside Neighborhood Faculties, Kearney Public Faculties, Gretna Public Faculties, Fremont Public Faculties, Norfolk Public Faculties, Columbus Public Faculties, North Platte Public Faculties, South Sioux Metropolis Neighborhood Faculties.

Throughout 5 classes, the faculties got three Ds and two Fs.

In keeping with the ACLU report, the costume codes had been discovered to be “rooted in stereotypes,” aimed extra deliberately at ladies, and “typically enforced disproportionately in opposition to Black ladies and different college students of shade.”

“Gendered language in costume codes and unequal enforcement topic ladies to self-discipline, humiliation and anxiousness; drive them to overlook class time; and harm their sense of belonging in class. Gendered costume codes additionally invite biased enforcement in opposition to nonbinary, transgender and gender-nonconforming college students.”

Specifically, the insurance policies failed in readability and in how violations had been dealt with, noting examples of some that included expulsion as a method of punishment and contained obscure language permitting for subjective interpretation.

The report additionally included an instance of a optimistic costume code mannequin drafted by the Oregon Nationwide Group for Girls. That coverage emphasizes sticking to the fundamentals whereas permitting snug clothes that helps preserve a secure and equitable studying setting. It additionally notes that eradicating restrictive insurance policies permits academics to deal with educating college students quite than policing them.

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