Dressing for success at Corona del Mar High

Corona del Mar High School has begun enforcing a dress code. Are dress codes a good idea in a public school?

Corona Del Mar has simply begun to better enforce the existing dress code, which is the same at all the Newport Mesa high schools. That’s really not asking much. The high school dress code only requires a few basic things like wearing shoes, wearing underwear on the inside, no hats, no gangster gear and a few other reasonable restrictions. Dress codes are a good and necessary requirement in any schools.

This really would be even less of a story if it weren’t that the Corona Del Mar administration has only now decided to enforce the existing dress code. It probably would be easier and simpler if they always had enforced the dress code. Even so, I doubt that the crackdown will prompt a fashion crisis at Corona del Mar.

There’s plenty of room for self-expression in the current dress code, though it’s interesting to see how few students actually express themselves in ways that aren’t almost exactly like everybody else. There’s no uniform requirement in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District high schools, but there easily could be, so I’m going to offer my own minimally fashion-disruptive uniforms for our high schools. You read it here first:

Girls are required to wear jeans or miniskirts, tight tops (can be layered) with local surf wear company logo and skate shoes or flip-flops. Boys are required to wear shorts or jeans (must be baggy) with local skate or surf company branding, T-shirts (must have surf or skate logo) and skateboard shoes. That should work, since those items encompass about 90% of local 14- to 18-year-olds’ wardrobes. This policy will eliminate any doubt about what to wear and head off pesky fashion faux pas, such as the recent peasant skirts (over), camisole tops (so over) and giant retro jerseys (never should have started).

With my new dress codes, fashion uncertainty will no longer be an issue, conformity will be an official rule rather than simply a preference, and our local surf wear and skate wear makers will continue to prosper. It’s the best of all worlds. You’re welcome.

* MARK GLEASON is a Costa Mesa resident and parent.

Kudos to Corona del Mar principal Fal Asrani for having the courage to enforce the dress code. Apparently she believes modest dress can benefit the learning environment.

Asrani must be doing something unusual if enforcing the dress code makes local headlines.

Why isn’t the dress code followed in all of our schools when it has been part of district policy since the mid-1990s? Enforcement takes time away from teaching, but not enforcing it tells students some rules are arbitrary and don’t have to be followed. By letting students, especially the girls, get away with wearing inappropriate clothing, the educational environment, which should be a professional one, is compromised for all students.

Today’s fashions reflect the pervasive influence of promiscuous sex in which the idea of modesty is anathema. Manufacturers know teenage girls will buy the trendy, seductive clothing more suited for adult casual wear than a classroom. Common sense would say the young men and the male staff would be distracted by the skimpy attire of the young women students. I have talked to more than one mom who would vote for uniforms if asked.

I found the 2005-06 Newport Harbor High School Student Handbook’s dress code, which states students must wear clothing that shows “good taste and decency” and does “not detract from or interfere with the educational environment.”

The code forbids clothing that disrupts the “orderly operation of the campus by being too revealing” and forbids “strapless/off the shoulder halter tops, tube tops,” clothing with bare back or midriff showing, shorts or skirts shorter than mid-thigh or “clothing which does not cover undergarments at all times.” Gang-related clothing, as defined by law enforcement agencies, is also not permitted.

A dress code is a good thing, but only if it is enforced. Parents are the ones responsible for making sure their children abide by all the rules. Parents and school officials should work together to send a united message that the rules will be followed. Even if it takes time to enforce, administrators should confront students who don’t abide by the code.

* WENDY LEECE is a Costa Mesa parent and former school board member.

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