http://www.topix.net/forum/city/lebanon-pa/T6THVNDSQOBVEF42G

I received a notice from the Lebanon High School last week stating that my 14 yr old had his 3rd dress code violation(untucked shirt) and that not only would he get ISS but would also be receiving a fine for disorderly conduct for said infractions.
In talking to the school they said yes they now fine for repeated dress code violations and would probably be 350.00 but that the fine would be in my sons name so if not paid he would get picked up when he turns 18……FOR HAVING HIS SHIRT UNTUCKED
WHAT IS GOING ON IN OUR SCHOOL DISTRICT.
I went into the school and raised he@@ and got the fine removed but I’m wondering how long this has been going on and are there other parents like myself who are unaware of this????
How many parents out there have actually paid this bogus fine and why is this being allowed to continue??
According to the Principle. Each infraction of the dress code elevates the level of infraction. And according to page 36 of the highschool handbook, the third infraction elevates the untucked shirt to the same penalty for the following criminal acivities:

Fighting
Vandalism
Theft
Threats to students and teachers
Inappropriate sexual behavior
Gang related activiity
Possesion of drugs for use or distribution
Possesion of look-a-like drug items
Posession of bomb making material or fireworks
Reckless driving

All of which can be subject to charges under the PA civil/criminal Code.

technically than, non-defiant failure to complete homework can also get the child charged with a civil/criminal law infraction and fine to be inforced when the child turns 18.

As for refusing ISS, what is up with that? Refusing that would have gotten us into more trouble than a dress code violation.

My school made people wear an orange shirt with the school’s name if their shirt was inappropriate, and PE sweats/shorts if that was the problem.

I have to say that those people that broke the dress code drew more attention in the punishment clothing than in spaghetti straps, baggy pants, or gang clothing. Why? They always left you wondering what they were wearing before, or people talked to them about it, or just the fact that they were even wearing it. I can’t imagine how much worse coveralls would be

1) For the more rebellious youth, wearing the jumpsuit won’t really be a punishment — it’s a symbol of defiance. Such symbols can make a kid look cool, and others could end up looking to him/her as a leader. Because of how the school is already particularly strict, I would imagine there’s a good bit of dissent from kids there already. You don’t want the punishment itself to make things worse.

2) For those who won’t be proud of it, it’s downright embarrassing, and sounds to me almost like a cruel and unusual punishment. Wearing a jumpsuit equates a kid to a prisoner. I’m sorry, if my pants are slightly baggy and a bit of my boxers show, that does NOT put me anywhere near on par with someone who is in jail. This is just like in the old days when they would leave a criminal tied up out in public to be laughed at by the community. Great way to scar a kid.

3) It’s a waste of tax dollars. How do you like it that your tax money is going to buy jumpsuits for unruly students?

So, I feel the bigger issues are 1) why can students refuse in-school suspension? 2) why can’t the school get them to follow the dress code? Personally, I am also curious about how the school can get the students to wear the prison-style cover-alls, considering it fails to get the students to comply with 1) and 2)!!

And, further, rather than getting students to take their dress code seriously, the “punishment” is being treated as joke by the students. They are deliberatly wearing offending clothes to get “punished” and even buying their own coveralls to ridicule the punishment.

This school has serious issues with discipline and respect from their students. Their choice of punishment is not leading to students focusing on their education, nor is it succeeding in even getting students to follow their stated dress code. To me, it appears to be causing more problems than it is solving.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about dress codes. When I grew up in the midwest … with extremely cold winters … girls were required to wear skirts or dresses to school. We could wear pants to school under the dress/skirt, but had to take them off for class – which meant pulling your pants off in the hallway in front of your locker (or in a common area for coats, in the younger years). Some how this always seemed to me to be more “risquee” than just letting us girls wear pants. Of course, I was a tom-boy and hated to wear skirts and dresses. Once the dress code relaxed (in 9th grade) , I switched to pants and probably wore skirt/dress once or twice a year for the rest of public school.

However, I know that kids today often push the edge on what they wear. I liked Christine’s thoughts on a reasonable dress code – that makes sense and is something relatively easy to follow and to see when it is ignored. And, the school is perfectly reasonable to enforce a reasonable dress code.

I went to a public high school with NO uniforms. My class was incredibly clickish. The class ahead of us and behind us weren’t as bad, and honestly, that is where most of my friends were (I couldn’t stand some of the snobs in my class!). My DH went to a different public high school, same general area and income breakdown, graduated the same year, and none of the classes were nearly as clickish as our class was.

My DD’s class (at her old school) with uniforms was insanely clickish. Her new school (also with uniforms) isn’t nearly as bad, even in the upper grades.

I think different classes just behave differently. My cousins are in a different area of the US (we’re in OH, they’re in FL) have had similar experiences in their public schools.

I’m all for uniforms, but for different reasons. Safety, which probably sounds odd (See my first post;), is the number 1 reason I like them. The uniforms that I’m familiar with don’t even have pockets to sneak stuff in.

My second favorite reason behind being for uniforms is appropriateness. I cringe when I see my neighbors daughter (going into 8th grade) turn the corner on her way to school and unbutton or untie or stuff her sweater into her bookbag to “show off” what God gave her to the free world. Her clothes (and that of her friends) are WAY too tight/short/revealing. It is so disturbing! She is a super sweet girl, and our families’ know and love each other, but I can’t bring myself to mention it to her mom. I think mom knows, but doesn’t know how to deal with it. My DD doesn’t have a choice. She’s picked up and dropped off by us, and the school would NEVER allow it. The skirts there are to the knee, as kids grow, they give a 2″ leeway, and then you HAVE to buy/trade into a bigger size. (They have free uniform trading days.)

Oh yeah, since when could students decline an in-school suspension? Not in may day!