Mcps dress code

[Anonymous]

I want to ask about dress code for school dress code for girls at ES. My daughter has a lot of dress (strap or open shoulder) & skirt, and I make sure she wears shorts underneath. Is there any length restriction? Can she wear it to go PE? She wears like that at yoga class/playground time/gym class at daycare. She wears that to kick ball sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Yes, children can wear dresses and skirts to school. For younger, active children, it's a good idea to give them shorts if their dress might come up. There is no dress code other than basic modesty.

From their website:

DRESS CODE MCPS has no formal dress code. However, children should wear clothing that allows for full participation in the instructional program. Shoes should be sturdy and provide support for running and climbing. Appropriate shoes are required for physical education (no sandals, flip-flops or slip-ons).

[Anonymous]

Large public school districts like MCPS and FCPS do not enforce dress codes much. As long as no one can see her bum or chest, I don't think anyone will say anything. Sneakers and shorts under skirts are a must for recess and PE. My 8th grader wears skorts. You don't have this problem now, but in middle and high school, some girls wear really tight low cut tops that don't leave much to the imagination. Crop tops are still in.

I've heard that MCPS does monitor language on T-shirts. If there's any obscene, political or religious language, or any message that makes someone uncomfortable, an adult might tell your kid not to wear it.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thank you. Yes, she wears sneakers all the time even in dress/skirts with shorts. That should not prevent her full participation in any active activity. She is in dress and skirt phases. One more question, can she wear 1 or 2 pieces, like necklace, nail stickers, crazy toy plastic glasses, and those colorful hair accessories including fairy hair/big bow etc? She has a huge toy jewllery box with many hair accessories and necklaces/bracelets/rings etc. I tell her that sje cannot bring toy to school. The girls at her current daycare loves to dress up every day with all these and brings toy.

[Anonymous]

No dress code.

[Anonymous]

Julius West Middle sent out a notice after spring break about dress code enforcement, including limitations on tops, midriff showing, and skirt length

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you. Yes, she wears sneakers all the time even in dress/skirts with shorts. That should not prevent her full participation in any active activity. She is in dress and skirt phases. One more question, can she wear 1 or 2 pieces, like necklace, nail stickers, crazy toy plastic glasses, and those colorful hair accessories including fairy hair/big bow etc? She has a huge toy jewllery box with many hair accessories and necklaces/bracelets/rings etc. I tell her that sje cannot bring toy to school. The girls at her current daycare loves to dress up every day with all these and brings toy.

It's fine -- she can wear any of this, although I wouldn't let her wear anything that would be dangerous if it got caught on a slide. The only caution is that stuff gets lost ALL THE TIME (and sometimes "borrowed" by other kids, with or without permission), so she shouldn't bring/wear anything that she will be really crushed if she loses it forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Julius West Middle sent out a notice after spring break about dress code enforcement, including limitations on tops, midriff showing, and skirt length

Sexism is still alive and well in MCPS.

In and of itself, it's always creepy when male principals are policing the clothing of middle school girls, but worse is the message that is teaching middle school boys - that men have a right to police women's clothing and appearance and that boys can be "distracted" or lose self-control by women's appearance.

I DGAF about how girls are dressed at school. I want to know why only 23% of Julius West students are at our above grade level in reading and why only 53% read at grade level. The principal has better things to do with his time than police skirt length.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Julius West Middle sent out a notice after spring break about dress code enforcement, including limitations on tops, midriff showing, and skirt length

Sexism is still alive and well in MCPS.

In and of itself, it's always creepy when male principals are policing the clothing of middle school girls, but worse is the message that is teaching middle school boys - that men have a right to police women's clothing and appearance and that boys can be "distracted" or lose self-control by women's appearance.

I DGAF about how girls are dressed at school. I want to know why only 23% of Julius West students are at our above grade level in reading and why only 53% read at grade level. The principal has better things to do with his time than police skirt length.

It's not sexist to require that students wear appropriate clothing to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Julius West Middle sent out a notice after spring break about dress code enforcement, including limitations on tops, midriff showing, and skirt length

Sexism is still alive and well in MCPS.

In and of itself, it's always creepy when male principals are policing the clothing of middle school girls, but worse is the message that is teaching middle school boys - that men have a right to police women's clothing and appearance and that boys can be "distracted" or lose self-control by women's appearance.

I DGAF about how girls are dressed at school. I want to know why only 23% of Julius West students are at our above grade level in reading and why only 53% read at grade level. The principal has better things to do with his time than police skirt length.

It's not sexist to require that students wear appropriate clothing to school.

You don't see a pattern among the articles of clothing referenced?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Julius West Middle sent out a notice after spring break about dress code enforcement, including limitations on tops, midriff showing, and skirt length

Sexism is still alive and well in MCPS.

In and of itself, it's always creepy when male principals are policing the clothing of middle school girls, but worse is the message that is teaching middle school boys - that men have a right to police women's clothing and appearance and that boys can be "distracted" or lose self-control by women's appearance.

I DGAF about how girls are dressed at school. I want to know why only 23% of Julius West students are at our above grade level in reading and why only 53% read at grade level. The principal has better things to do with his time than police skirt length.

It's not sexist to require that students wear appropriate clothing to school.

You don't see a pattern among the articles of clothing referenced?

PP only discussed girls clothing. There's no pattern really, just a singular focus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Julius West Middle sent out a notice after spring break about dress code enforcement, including limitations on tops, midriff showing, and skirt length

Sexism is still alive and well in MCPS.

In and of itself, it's always creepy when male principals are policing the clothing of middle school girls, but worse is the message that is teaching middle school boys - that men have a right to police women's clothing and appearance and that boys can be "distracted" or lose self-control by women's appearance.

I DGAF about how girls are dressed at school. I want to know why only 23% of Julius West students are at our above grade level in reading and why only 53% read at grade level. The principal has better things to do with his time than police skirt length.

It's not sexist to require that students wear appropriate clothing to school.

You don't see a pattern among the articles of clothing referenced?

PP only discussed girls clothing. There's no pattern really, just a singular focus.

I’ve taught MS. Dress code enforcement isn’t so much about “policing” what kids wear from a judgmental standpoint as it is about a safety (physical and emotional) standpoint. You can teach and expect kids to be respectful of one another and have consequences when they are not, but that does not undo the embarrassment of being the target of an unkind comment related to one’s body or clothing. MS students have discovered the power of words, but not the discretion to hold them back. And FWIW, girls are the meanest to each other regarding clothing.

Every year when spring hits, girls will pull out clothes that fit properly last summer, but don’t fit the same now because their shape has changed. Girls often don’t realize that what they see in the mirror when standing isn’t the same view when they go up stairs or they are sitting and someone is standing next to them. Better an adult alert them than a student say something mean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you. Yes, she wears sneakers all the time even in dress/skirts with shorts. That should not prevent her full participation in any active activity. She is in dress and skirt phases. One more question, can she wear 1 or 2 pieces, like necklace, nail stickers, crazy toy plastic glasses, and those colorful hair accessories including fairy hair/big bow etc? She has a huge toy jewllery box with many hair accessories and necklaces/bracelets/rings etc. I tell her that sje cannot bring toy to school. The girls at her current daycare loves to dress up every day with all these and brings toy.

Things like glasses or large jewelry that she may be tempted to fiddle with or take on and off, will be deemed a distraction in class, and she’ll be asked to put them away.

I’d try to pare it down to one accessory at a time, and stick to only things that will stay on without adjustments or removal during the day. Teachers won’t want to help replace a bow that falls out of her hair at PE, or track down a bracelet lost at recess. And definitely no toys.

Just have her choose one accessory each day, and remind her it should stay in/on all day. If it gets in her way or comes off, or falls out of her hair, she should ask her teacher for permission to put it in her backpack—don’t ask the teacher to help put it back on. If it comes home in her bag, that item should be removed from her daily options in the future.

It’s not about squashing her style and creativity, but about eliminating distractions and not pulling the teacher away from teaching. My DD always liked to have bright funky (temporary) hair colors, and nobody ever complained. In fact, she got lots of compliments!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you. Yes, she wears sneakers all the time even in dress/skirts with shorts. That should not prevent her full participation in any active activity. She is in dress and skirt phases. One more question, can she wear 1 or 2 pieces, like necklace, nail stickers, crazy toy plastic glasses, and those colorful hair accessories including fairy hair/big bow etc? She has a huge toy jewllery box with many hair accessories and necklaces/bracelets/rings etc. I tell her that sje cannot bring toy to school. The girls at her current daycare loves to dress up every day with all these and brings toy.

Things like glasses or large jewelry that she may be tempted to fiddle with or take on and off, will be deemed a distraction in class, and she’ll be asked to put them away.

I’d try to pare it down to one accessory at a time, and stick to only things that will stay on without adjustments or removal during the day. Teachers won’t want to help replace a bow that falls out of her hair at PE, or track down a bracelet lost at recess. And definitely no toys.

Just have her choose one accessory each day, and remind her it should stay in/on all day. If it gets in her way or comes off, or falls out of her hair, she should ask her teacher for permission to put it in her backpack—don’t ask the teacher to help put it back on. If it comes home in her bag, that item should be removed from her daily options in the future.

It’s not about squashing her style and creativity, but about eliminating distractions and not pulling the teacher away from teaching. My DD always liked to have bright funky (temporary) hair colors, and nobody ever complained. In fact, she got lots of compliments!

Op here. Thank you for tips. At current daycare, her teachers sometimes help some kids to do braids & find their lost items. They are mostly found because there are only certain places they hang out at daycare. That group of girls like to pay attention what other girls dress, wear or bring, so they normally know where those things are if anyone pull it out/take it off/borrow to wear. They are all quite lovely and cute. I would not expect this kind of attention/help from busy public school teacher, so I will try my best for her to get smoother transition. She is still at those fancy of dress up phase with bright color/silly things. They are all imexpensive and replaceable if needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Julius West Middle sent out a notice after spring break about dress code enforcement, including limitations on tops, midriff showing, and skirt length

Sexism is still alive and well in MCPS.

In and of itself, it's always creepy when male principals are policing the clothing of middle school girls, but worse is the message that is teaching middle school boys - that men have a right to police women's clothing and appearance and that boys can be "distracted" or lose self-control by women's appearance.

I DGAF about how girls are dressed at school. I want to know why only 23% of Julius West students are at our above grade level in reading and why only 53% read at grade level. The principal has better things to do with his time than police skirt length.

Because those PARENTS were too busy buying questionable clothing for school instead of reading with their child, reading to their child, or enforcing reading at home instead of shopping? Do I win a prize?