ANTIOCH — High school students in Antioch made a reluctant fashion statement this week.
Gone were sagging pants, torn jeans, bare midriffs and T-shirts with logos often seen at Antioch and Deer Valley high schools. Instead, clothing options were winnowed down to a narrow range of styles in school colors.
Students were, with a few exceptions, complying with Antioch Unified’s new rules for high school dress. For those who persisted in banned attire, the schools had spare clothing ready for a quick change into conformity.
Deer Valley students could wear either loaned sweats or T-shirts with the logo “DVHS Property” or go to detention.
Senior Danielle Gutierrez was out of compliance early Monday. She had to change out of her torn jeans into a pair of non-ripped jeans she owned.
“(The policy) is just ridiculous. It’s not a real uniform,” she said. It’s unfair to enforce a policy on seniors with only a few months left in school, she added.
Antioch Unified’s dress code, which some administrators refer to as “spirit wear,” is tailored toward flexibility. It requires students to wear solid black, gray, white, khaki or denim pants and black, gray or school colored polos or T-shirts. Undershirts must be white, teal or black. Extracurricular team shirts and senior class shirts also are permitted.
Schools allow students to wear whatever color jackets they want because of the season, said Scott Bergerhouse, Deer Valley’s co-principal.
Deer Valley administrators cracked down on sagging pants by passing out zip ties for offenders to cinch up.
The Antioch district trustees adopted the dress policy in February, saying it would improve student conduct and campus safety.
Antioch High senior Elisa Martinez echoed the thoughts of many students at both schools.
“I think it’s pointless,” she said while walking to a class.
Antioch High sophomore Joe Armstrong agreed.
He also said the policy would not keep away off-campus intruders. “Anybody can still come on campus; they would just have to wear black or gray,” he said.
Most students interviewed said they weren’t happy but would live with the new rules.
“The students are not thrilled about the idea, but they’re open to it,” Antioch High Principal Louie Rocha said. He and other administrators went to each class Monday morning to explain the policy.
Rocha said he asked them whether they can wear what they want at the workplace.
“The ones who had jobs said no,” he said. “I tried to explain to them it’s the same way here. We want them to dress for success.”
Antioch based its policy on the one adopted by Long Beach’s school district, the country’s first public school to require high school uniforms. Antioch leaders visited Long Beach this past spring.
Parents can opt out of the dress policy. Doing so requires three counseling sessions with district administrators. Thus far, about 90 Deer Valley parents opted out and 18 at Antioch did so, administrators said.
Contact Paul Burgarino at 925-779-7164. Follow him at Twitter.com/paulburgarino.
Infobox1