LMS to counter fashion with dress code

By Paul Boring, Western News Reporter

Libby Middle School students will now have a specific dress code by which to plan their daily outfits.

Vice Principal Keith Ivers said the dress code needed to be fine-tuned and made known to each student. He added that the overall dress code has not changed dramatically.

³Generally we don¹t have problems with it, but there¹s always a few, especially in the fall when the kids come in after buying brand new clothes,² Ivers said. ³They spent good money and then we can¹t let them wear them. Then everybody¹s frustrated.²

Ivers said the impetus for the dress code was the change in fashion. With clothes becoming increasingly revealing, he said the focus has to shift back to studies.

³We just tried to be a little more specific on certain points,² he said. ³The belly shirts and those kinds of things that have come out are not acceptable. As the years go by, the fashions change.²

The transition from winter to spring often carries with it skimpier outfits, Ivers said. By informing parents and students about the dress code beforehand, kids can avoid purchasing clothes that will not be allowed at school.

³Before they go out and spend money, we wanted to remind everyone exactly what the expectations are,² he said.

The regulations apply to girls as well as boys. For the latter gender, low-riding pants have been a problem. Tattered pants and pants with holes have also been deemed inappropriate. Caps must be removed as students enter the building.

³Caps can be a problem because the boys will pull them down over their eyes and then there¹s no eye contact,² Ivers said. ³We¹re trying to keep the kids¹ focus on studying rather than the other things.²

As students grow, clothes that were originally appropriate can become too small. Ivers reminded parents and kids to err on the side of being conservative when choosing attire suitable for school.

³We didn¹t really have a clear guideline for this last year or the year before,² he said. ³Some of the clothes were obviously too short and some were okay, so we thought we¹d better nail that down a little bit.²