The school district in Little Rock, Ark. has announced plans for a dress code that will require teachers to wear underwear. Every single day. Female teachers will have to wear bras, too.It was a hundred degrees out here in the Capital City today, and I wore my usual slacks and collared shirt. No one can tell what kind of undies I wore, no one saw my belly, no one saw my toes, and no one saw me advertise for what used to be known as vices.
An Aug. 29 letter from the Little Rock School District’s Office of the Superintendent to all employees explains that the dress code will officially go into effect in the fall of 2014.
“Foundational garments shall be worn and not visible with respect to color, style, and/or fabric,” the letter reads. “No see-through or sheer clothing shall be allowed, and no skin shall be visible between pants/trousers, skirts, and shirts/blouses at any time.”
T-shirts, patches and other clothing containing slogans for beer, alcohol, drugs, gangs or sex will also be prohibited. Other verboten garments will include cut-off jeans with ragged edges, cut-out dresses and spaghetti-straps if teachers aren’t wearing at least two layers.
Flip-flops will be banned. “Tattoos must be covered if at all possible.” No jogging suits, either (though gym and dance teachers do get a pass on this one).
And the very worst of all: No spandex.
Organized labor vocally opposes the new universal underwear requirement and the rest of the non-draconian dress code.
It's possible, ladies and gentlemen. It really is. And it isn't a burden, and it isn't stepping on your "rights". Now dress appropriately and start acting like the professionals you claim to be, and then quit complaining about your loss of respect in "the community". Anyone who would complain about this is an embarrassment.
Are they going to have panty inspections?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I read, they won't need to. It was clear to the casual observer what people were, and were not, wearing.
ReplyDeleteYep!
ReplyDeleteThis dress code highlights everything wrong about dress codes. It includes the seemingly obvious, the unenforceable, and the ridiculous bias. Obviously, teachers should not be exposing themselves provocatively, or wearing things promoting products which students cannot and/or should not be using. However, many female teachers can get away without wearing a bra and be fine; others shouldn't. It's kind of dependent on breast size, and clothing choice. As to underwear -- how do you enforce that? The first person to try to check is also the first person to be sued. And you can't tell, unless a) you expose yourself, which would fall in to the obviously bad category, or b) you wear distinctive underwear, which is also against the dress code. And tattoos must be covered 'if possible'? So, someone who has a butterfly tatooon her fore arm must wear long sleeves all year, but someone with a Mike Tyson style face tattoo is perfectly fine wearing whatever?
ReplyDeleteMaxutils:
ReplyDeleteIf it were so obvious and ridiculous, why would such a dress code FOR ADULT TEACHERS even be necessary?
Clearly some teachers in the district are/were idiots, but I suspect that it was a very small percentage. I would hope that the rest of the teachers (and staff) already followed these grooming and dress standards without being told to do so. So, the code is only an issue for the 1% of teachers who flunked remedial adult dressing.
dnjole ...I would expect so, as well. It's still mostly unenforceable an/or unfair, though.
ReplyDeleteIt's not unfair. It's so reasonable that people shouldn't actually have to be told to live up to such a low standard.
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable....A few years back, our local high school district passed an edict banning TEACHERS from wearing things like jogging shorts, flip flops and clothing that showed their undergarments.
ReplyDeleteDarren ... what is fair about forcing some tattoos to be covered and others not?
ReplyDeleteI wish my children's school district would enforce such a dress code for its teachers. I don't want to know that a second grade teacher has a tramp stamp, but I do because I can see it.
ReplyDeleteI don't want my daughters to wear mini skirts and low cut blouses to school, but their teachers do.
If someone can't figure out the difference between business casual and club appropriate attire, then I really don't want them around my children.
Dress codes exist when society has eroded to the point that common sense is not in attendance. Just last week a new teacher showed up to our high school in leggings and a fairly tight tee shirt with a longish sweater vest thing. She teacher English. A female Assistant Principal was enlisted to discuss her attired and the baby teacher's response was "you're just picking on me because I work out." Our school has had two incidents of teachers messing with students. I would frankly appreciate it if coworkers dressed and acted appropriately so that I don't have to deal with complaints from students and the poor morale that such events cause.
ReplyDelete