[8/21/03]Most students in public schools are adjusting to new teachers, classes and schedules, but following the tighter dress code is proving to be a challenge for some.

“A lot of times we’re rushed and if one of my kids can’t find their belt, I think the school should allow for an emergency day,” said David Clark, who has four children in the Vicksburg Warren School District three of whom are required to wear clothes matching the district’s expanded policy.

As approved by the board of trustees in May, the dress code stipulates what kinds and colors of clothes and accessories are allowed for all elementary and junior high students. Uniform rules have been in place experimentally at elementaries for years, but became mandatory when classes started last Monday.

Thirteen-year-old Brandy Clark said she went to school Tuesday without a belt and was told to report to the office. Ann Clark, mother of the seventh-grader, said a school official told her, “Either bring her a belt or come and get her.”

Since Brandy doesn’t have a belt, Clark had no choice but to keep her youngest daughter home.

The three Clarks at VJHS also said they worked and bought school clothes with their own money, unaware that cargo pants and shorts shorts with large pockets on the sides were not allowed. They think the policy is too strict.

“My son dresses like a man,” David Clark said. “He can walk into church with these clothes on, but he can’t go to school in them. Don’t you think they’re over-extending the rules a bit?”

School officials said communication is key in preventing a child from being reprimanded for not complying.

Ray Hume, principal at the junior high, said if parents are having trouble adhering to the dress code, they should call school officials and explain.

“I tell everyone, I’m the only H-U-M-E in the phonebook,'” he joked. Hume added that he preferred to be called at the office during the day. “If a parent has a problem, they can call me and we’ll be happy to work something out.”

He also said officials can write a note to excuse a student until parents can afford to purchase the clothes or have time to shop for the appropriate clothes.

At Warrenton Elementary School, principal Mary Hodges, said about 98 percent of her students follow the dress code. She noted some parents have been unable to afford both school supplies and the required clothes, prompting faculty and staff to establish a clothes closet.

“If I see that a child is wearing the right colors, but maybe not a collared shirt, that tells me his parents are trying to make an attempt to follow the policy,” she said.

“I cannot make a child uncomfortable for something that is the parent’s responsibility.”

And principal Rick Tillotson at Sherman Avenue Elementary said it is too early to tell if the dress code has made an impact on behavior, but said the first weeks have gone smoothly.

“Almost all of the children here are wearing the uniforms,” he said. Tillotson said administrators would not discipline students yet.

“We’re letting students get accustomed to the new year,” he said. But parents can expect information to be sent home to notify them of the consequences later in the year.

In the meantime, students will have to follow the dress-code rules as they would any other.

Fourteen-year-old Ashley and Brandy Clark have a motto they say perfectly explains their feelings about the dress code. “If God wanted us all to look the same, he would have made us that way,” they said.

Public schools nationwide began requiring uniform dress several years ago, citing many reasons. Among them was a reduction in student-to-student peer pressure that could come from some being able to afford more expensive clothes than others. Another cited reason was that faculty could more easily spot people who should not be on campus or mixing with students.

Vicksburg’s high schools have dress codes, but uniform clothing types and colors are not specified as they are in the lower grades.