West Campus High Students Call New Dress Code Policy 'Unfair'
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — It's a new school year for West Campus High students and what they're wearing is getting a lot of attention.
"You don't want to be in something uncomfortable just so that you're following a dress code," Ella Mortensen, of West Campus High, said.
Students say they were given a new, much stricter dress code policy that specifies how long shorts and shirts must be.
"I immediately thought: what clothes do I have that fit in this dress code?" Merlena Biggar said.
At West Campus, the new dress code requires shirt necklines be no lower than two inches below the collarbone and shorts can be no shorter than three inches above the knee.
This is a change some think discriminates against certain students.
'Overall it's unfair because the rules seem to be more targeted against women and boys are relatively unaffected by the new rules," Alina Milevsky said.
'Even the shorts I'm wearing right now are pretty long and these are some of my longest," Biggar said. "Soccer shorts — I can't wear those."
Sacramento Unified School District told CBS 13 the West Campus dress code policies mirror the district's policies, which do not tolerate any form of discrimination.
How do the dress codes at other schools compare, you might ask?
Guidelines at McClathey High are much more general and just require students not to show private areas.
The dress code at Hiram Johnson High simply states "Clothing must not interfere with the instruction or other activities."
West Campus students are now asking that the dress code at those schools be part of the model for theirs.
"They said that you could find it in clothing stores but in our experience, it's been kind of difficult to find clothes that you like that fit you well and that also fit within the dress code," Mortensen said.
The district says they think the students misunderstood and mischaracterized the changes and are now working on a compromise.
"We're not children anymore," Alejandro Fisher said. "We're exposed to tons of issues and the decisions adults make affect us right now and in the future as well."
