The Lincoln Park (Mich.) School District passed a controversial dress code which prohibits school students from wearing T-shirts with any images, writing or political statements on them, including 9/11 commemorative T-shirts and copies of the First Amendment.
That’s right, the school board is trying to be a bunch of censors.
Hundreds of students have already been sent home or suspended, and over 120 have left the school district entirely, since the dress code was enacted at the beginning of the school year.
Critics say, besides the obvious censorship issue, the district isn’t paying enough attention to the poor quality of education.
Before the board cut off discussion, the members heard from several parents, including 39-year-old Della Schaaf, who said school officials should be more worried about other problems — like textbooks, she said, holding up a tattered and torn language book her fourth-grade daughter, BreeAnn, uses at Foote Elementary School.
“Look at my daughter’s book that she got. What about her homework?” Schaaf asked. . . .
But the dress policy has been defended by those who say it is needed to keep students focused on their school work.
“Since the school year began this year, we have seen better attitudes, more respectful students,” Pam DiNunzio, a ninth-grade geography teacher and family and consumer science teacher at Lincoln Park High School, told the board Tuesday night. — Detroit Free Press
Two students who had been suspended for wearing T-shirts with the First Amendment printed on them came back to school wearing armbands with the First Amendment printed on them. In a bureaucratic oversight, the district forgot to apply its censorship policy to armbands.
Parents are planning to protest the new dress code by keeping their students home on Wednesday, which is “count day,” the day of the year on which districtwide attendance determines how much education money the school district receives from the state.
Because the district receives about $7,100 per student, the 120 who have already left the district, combined with those who stay home Wednesday in protest, could cost the school district dearly.
I say to you parents that you should just remove your children from the district entirely. For your $7,100, you could get a much higher quality private school education instead — if the government wasn’t stealing that money from you in the first place and squandering it on heartless bureaucrats. Perhaps the next thing you focus on should be instituting education vouchers or tax credits.
(Hat tip: Bennett Haselton)
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Q
Sep 26, 2006
how are they focused on their schoolwork if they are at ho9me suspended or looking for a new school? damn idiots. school uniforms are not a new idea, it was also a big deal when it was seen on old newsreels from the 30′s but it was hard to understand because the narration was in German.
Marcese
Sep 26, 2006
I am from Sarasota and I want to know why would the school board do that
to the students. Why would the school not let them say anything about
the first amandment? in my class we are just learning about the first
amandment.If my school did that I would get very mad and I would wear
everything I could find about it.
Matt
Sep 26, 2006
I went to an excellent private school as a day student for $8000 a year, and later as a dorm student with a lot of financial aid for $10,000.
I would recommend that parents in this district consider doing likewise.
Imagine that my high school, in 2003, still allowed smoking on campus (not in buildings) where in most every public school it is completely outlawed everywhere in campus… by students and the general public.
Karl
Sep 27, 2006
I am actually from LP and well the dress code is most likely worse then you think. If a kid is to wear a button down shirt or polo so to say all the buttons have to be buttoned and tucked in. There is a difference between no halter tops and going over board like Lincoln Park did. Now I did go to private school in a neighboring city but I have friends that used to go to Lincoln Park and the real issue that LP has to deal is education and not dress code. One of my friends brother is still in high school in LP and can not afford to go to private school so is basically stuck there and is miserable. It makes school worse for one it makes them feel uncomfortable wearing a shirt with all buttons buttoned and tucked in.
Also to Matt but there arent really any excellent private schools close to Lincoln Park, the ones that are there have good educations but have other problems. Also Lincoln Park isn’t the richest area so people dont have the money to go to private schools.
jon
Sep 27, 2006
protest, keep your kids at home….and dont forget to sue for a violation of your freedom of speech. maybe a federal suit will get them to stop the censorship.
Bill S. Preston
Sep 27, 2006
“T-shirts with any images, writing or political statements on them, including 9/11 commemorative T-shirts and copies of the First Amendment.”
I believe the shirt that sparked the debate was a picture of bush doing drugs and drinking. Don’t forget to mention the ban on that shirt. I’m all for freedom of speech, but these are children. Indoctrinate them now, so they don’t mind as much when their freedom of speech is taken away as adults.
James patrick
Sep 27, 2006
Actually children are not protected by the 1st amendment. I believe the consitution only applys to those over the age of 18. I had many problems when I was in High school and tried to speak out against the descions the school made. I was exspelled from one and 80 students were given temporary suspension for signing a petition I wrote regarding the dress code and many other issues.
Chad Wellington
Sep 27, 2006
James Patrick, you n00B!
Bryan
Sep 27, 2006
“Actually children are not protected by the 1st amendment. I believe the consitution only applys to those over the age of 18.”
No, the constitution applies to all Americans (except for specific things like a child doesn’t have the right to bear arms, since he can’t own a firearm). Did you even take Government in high school? Or do you even live in the United States? That’s pretty miserably dumb.
Seth
Sep 28, 2006
According to one Supreme Court ruling (I can’t remember off the top of my head which one), the school has legal rights as parents as long as the child is under care of the school. Thus, making dress codes legal, albeit an illogical focus for a school with poor education to begin with.
The idea is called en loco parentis.
Bob
Sep 28, 2006
I wonder if they ever heard of Tinker v. Des Moines?
Roy
Sep 29, 2006
I just have to say that this is the stupidest liberal smear article I have ever read. Stop with the bleeding hearts crap. Kids go to school to learn not for a fashion show (Fresh Prince taught me that), and for that reason, schools SHOULD be able to dictate a standard of dress. Don’t like it, make your own damn private school and do whatever you want. But then again, I can’t help but think you all wouldn’t cry if these same kids wore a T-Shirt with the 10 Commandments written on them…then you would cry “Seperation of Church and State”…a fictitious addition to the Constitution. Make up your minds, please!
Michael Hampton
Sep 29, 2006
Roy, you’ve somehow managed to get virtually everything completely backward.
First, I’m not a liberal, you aren’t reading a liberal article, and this isn’t a liberal web site.
Second, it’s private schools which can restrict students’ speech and expression in any way they like. Government schools must follow the Constitution. Don’t like it, get rid of the government schools. (They have no place in America anyway, but that’s another topic.)
Pat
Oct 15, 2006
My son went to LP schools and hes finally done with it!! The middle school would not allow him to use the bathrooms , and that didnt sit to well with me.I heard that Mr. Kite has a nice shower in his office.Taxpayer dollars at work. Some kids cant afford to wear the best of clothes , so whats the big deal!!!The school should worry about the roaches that are crawling all over the place, my son told me that they crawl out of the heat vents in class. Out of school and out of that City.
Anonymous
Nov 21, 2006
i think that i have to say that i dont like the dress code at well because i think that yoy know what we are aold enought to knwo what we can and cannot wear personally im not aliitle kis\da ny more so i think thatvmy school should stop treating us like we are i
Frank Dranost
Dec 06, 2006
learn grammer
Amanda
Jan 24, 2007
right now my class is doing a debate on the first amendment and how it works with the dress code. it’s strange that they wouldn’t let a student wear the 1st amendment because that directly violates that amendment. plus, that would really SUCK! but i told my mom about this and she the whole skip out on wednesday thing, and she thought that was an exellent protest. anytime she lets me foght against my school by making me stay home would be great!!!
Indya
Feb 02, 2007
this is ridiculous i think tha ll students should have the smae rights as any other american ..to the peraon hoo said you have to be 18 or over … BULLL SHIT …..
Lincoln Park Parent
Feb 15, 2007
The stupidity of the issue is that parents are paying more attention to a dress code than their child’s education. The dress code was announced at the end of the previous school year. Parents knew in advance that this was to take place. Additionally the school district offered to assist low income families in locating appropriate clothing. There is no reason for the uproar this past fall.
Keeping students home on count day is taking away money for their education…all over a T-shirt. Many public schools have dress codes and it’s never been an issue. It’s parents of this particular district that is causing the issue.
When these children grow up and enter the workforce the dress code rules of many companies will prohibit them from wearing T-shirts with slogans. Yes, even those employed by the government fall sanction to dress code rules. I have never heard “censorship” being used in those instances. What the parents need to do is support the district in their efforts to educate the children. There are obviously problems that demanded a solution. The energy created last fall would have been better use to help the children start the new year in a positive manner. Shame on those parents.
victoria
Mar 16, 2007
i think they are fags! they shud worry more about the school work and education rather than wut someone wears to skool! it is taking away pursuit to happiness and the freedom of speech! pretty soon we wont have any rights at all!
Anonymous
Mar 19, 2007
u guys should put more facts here!!!
Megan
Apr 26, 2007
I am a student at LP and let me tell you this. The dress code is horrible. It takes a way our freedom and gives little choice as to what to wear. So many kids(including me) have been suspended because of the dress code. Also many of my friends left the district. They say they did it to better our education but how it could do that when almost everyday 5 kids or more are suspended because of the dress code. What they need to do is focus more on the important things. I’m not saying our school has the worst education but quite a few of our teachers need to be gotten rid of. If they were really focused on a better education they would have done something to benefit that not taking away our rights.I mean they don’t even ask the students opinions.
Evil stupid dresscode needs to be stoped.
Oh and if they really do try to get uniforms they will lose a lot more kids. So if anyone in charge of that reads this please please if you really care about our education FORGET the uniform idea.
Saggy Richard
May 02, 2007
Screw dress codes!
J. Zitnik
May 05, 2007
you cannot sue this school district for not letting the kids that go to that school (MY school) wear these clothes. they have had several meetings about this topic at the district headquarters about the dress code and very few people tended to show up. there was also a vote on it in the summer of ’06 to tell whether or not this dress code was to be put into action and few people apeared for that as well. as a student at LPHS i know for a fact that it has been very difficult to adheer to this dress code, but if more people dont show action on the subject, instead of just posting things online about it, than nothing is going to be done. i agree that they should have sent out more notices about the meetings on this subject, but the only thing we can do now is go to the future ones and pay more attention to our local news letters and newspapers. and by the way, there are NO “uniforms” in my school, as some people think. the dress code is to wear any clothes that you like as long as the words or pictures on them do not take up more than two inches of space. stripped shirts, polka dotted shirts, and shirts with repetative images on them (such as hearts) are very much accepted, as well as normal blue jeans, kackies, shorts, and skirts that do not come above the knee when standing, and many other types of clothing. all that i’m asking from this point on is that people actually know what they’re talking about before they post something on the internet about how bad this dress code is. thank you
Anonymous
May 05, 2007
by the way, there are no roaches in the middle school. the middle school kids just happen to be more immature than they put on to their parents. and yeah, i agree with the december 6th posting of “learn grammer”. you’re all complaining about the education, and obviously the people who cant spell “school” right, should be
sara phillips
May 24, 2007
The school year is almost ove and the Board is trying to make the dress code even more strict. I personally dont mind the dress code. I cant wear certain clothes but I deal eith it. I will be a senior next school year and I would like to wear what I want. Certain rules that we have are crazy and hard to avoid breaking. Cargo shorts for example-many guys wear them because they’re the only shorts available to them.
Another problem eith the dress code is that people break it every single day. Teachers dont care. Certain teachers will take action while others just let it go.This is a good district-no matter what other students say. I also dont really like the idea of trimesters but it will help alot of kids pass that are missing cerdits-at least the kids in my grade. The dress code should be reconsidered at leat some of it. Short skirts and belly shirts can be banned,but why the shirts with writing? I understand that some people wear shits with bad things written on it,so what punish them,not all of us.
lauren mykal
Nov 08, 2007
i do not go to this school but i do go to whitko middle in indiana and they have completely ruined our lives with this crap. at our school we cannot even have the tinniest hole in our jeans or it is straight to iss for u
eric
Nov 26, 2007
the thing of not letting kids wear a shirt with the first amendment printed on it is stupid and parents not paying atention to the student education.
mnjyckque
Mar 14, 2010
Just another excuse for the bible thumpers to get around separation of church and state so they can shove their interpretation of christianity down peoples throats.
Kelly
May 02, 2010
Wow! There are so many comments. I am doing research for a college paper. I am excited to see people so opinionated about this type of issue as I feel this is America. Keep Rappin!