by Kate Finnerty

Check out our Storify about dress code at the high school: https://storify.com/SagamoreBHS/dress-code-at-the-high-school 

Each day, students bustle through the high school while wearing a variety of clothing: choices range in color, style and fit. While the student handbook puts relatively few limitations on students’ attire, it also makes room for exceptions. Students have the freedom to choose their clothing “except where there is an overriding, legitimate school purpose that is more important than this right.”

To complete the work that drama classes require, students must follow certain dress guidelines. Performing arts teacher Summer Williams said the guidelines were designed to maximize mobility.

“The goal is just to make sure that everyone is dressed so that they can move well for drama class,” Williams said.

Signs outlining the guidelines are posted on the doors of drama teachers’ offices and in classroom spaces.

Performing arts teacher Mark Vanderzee said the guidelines had previously been unwritten expectations, so the document was created to clarify them.

“Being in a drama class is about creating a safe space,” Vanderzee said. “When I say that, I’m not insinuating or referring to the fact that how someone dresses necessarily would create an unsafe space, but it’s about being able to take risks and be physically engaged with the work from a movement perspective without feeling like you have to be nervous about something.”

The sign explains that “movement is a key component in all our drama classes,” so students should wear “loose and non-revealing clothing.” It also says that a student will be asked to change if they are “deemed to be inappropriately dressed.”

Vanderzee said many of his students now bring extra clothing that they put on before class. The department also provides a box of loose clothing for students.

Williams said that students have complied with the guidelines and she has not had to enforce them.

Junior Maya Jakubowski, who took Drama 1-A last year and has been involved in multiple productions, said she was told by her teacher to pull her skirt down.

“I don’t have to do that. It’s the idea that people sexualize only girls,” Jakubowski said. “You know it’s only being targeted toward girls.”

Senior Giovana Castro and Jakubowski both said they had female classmates who were pulled aside by drama teachers and informed that their clothing was inappropriate. Castro said that she is strongly opposed to the guidelines and that they have the potential to reinforce negative messages to female students.

“Growing up, girls are told to feel shameful about their bodies,” Castro said. “We go through puberty, and we’re like, ‘Oh my god! What’s happening to my body?’ Then you get here, and they’re like, ‘Sorry, your boobs make me uncomfortable. Put on a shirt.’”

Castro said that in practice, the guidelines affect females exclusively.

“There was a case in which in one of the drama classes, a boy came in wearing a shirt that revealed his entire midriff,” Castro said. “Girls had been called out so many times because of crop tops. He came in wearing a crop top. The teacher didn’t notice or say anything. This is definitely a female body problem.”

Jakubowski wants a more open conversation about the dress code.

“It’s hard because there are so many grey areas,” Jakubowski said. “But the first solution, I think, is to talk: start a dialogue between teachers and students.”

According to Jakubowski however, a concern about future auditions sometimes dissuaded her from speaking her opinions.

“I know I always want to challenge it, but I don’t want to get in trouble because if they don’t like you, they’re not going to cast you,” Jakubowski said.

Williams said students should definitely not feel this way.

“I am totally able to voice my opinion about a non-indictment of a police officer without fear of it affecting my job, correct?” Williams said. “So why wouldn’t anybody else be able to voice their opinions?”

Williams said the intention of the guidelines is to maximize students’ abilities in class.

“The spirit of the guidelines is creating an environment where we can all do our best work. And you can’t do your best work if you have limitations,” Williams said. “Whether they’re physical restrictive clothing limitations, whether you have a risk-taking limitation, whether you have a ‘I choose not to perform in front of these people’ limitations. We’re all about breaking down any sort of limitations that would hinder a student.”

Kate Finnerty can be contacted at [email protected]