No pajamas, please. One Texas high school is cracking down on underdressed parents, which has people across the U.S. questioning the racial and socioeconomic implications of the dress code.
James Madison High School in Houston found itself in the national spotlight last month after its principal announced the school was enforcing a dress code for parents. Fed up with sheer tops and low-cut jeans, Principal Carlotta Outley Brown issued a directive: Dress appropriately or don’t come inside the building.
On April 8, a local news outlet reported that a mom wearing a T-shirt dress and a head scarf wasn’t allowed to enroll her child at the school because she didn’t fit the dress code. The next day, Brown released a memo.
Brown’s list of banned attire includes “very low cut tops,” short shorts, “leggings that are showing your bottom,” pajamas, hair rollers, and satin caps or bonnets.
“The parents have to be involved in their children’s education,” Brown said in an email, “but we must begin with changing the culture and having high expectations for all.”
Not everyone saw it that way, and the dress code memo sparked backlash from locals, including politicians and parents. Some said it unfairly targeted minorities and lower-class families.
A candidate for city council, Ashton Woods, wrote on Twitter, “This is ELITISM and RESPECTABILITY POLITICS she should be fired.”
Brown said the school will make allowances in case of emergencies. But one parent, Rosemary Young, told KTRK she had to hurry to the school to pick up her child after her younger son broke his arm, and because she was wearing a satin cap, she was handed a copy of the rules. “What I wear should never be an issue,” she said. “I’m not revealing.”
Brown says she’s just trying to teach high school students to be professional. “This is not about color or class,” she said. “Dress decently and appropriately.”
Brown, who is a graduate of the school, is black, a member of the demographic supposedly targeted by the dress code. Despite the national outcry, Brown claims she’s seen more support than backlash.
“I have received resounding support and lots and lots of positive emails, phone messages, mail, texts, [and] direct messages in support of the parent dress code,” she said. “My climate at the school is changing for the better.”
The dress code memo appears to be aimed in the right direction, if poorly executed. And the rules apply only to parents “coming inside of the building to conduct business,” Brown said. Parents in the carpool line can still wear pajamas if they want to.
