In recent times, coming back to school after a period of distance learning has caused more than just a problem of slipping grades and declining mental health, it’s also caused an increasing amount of outrage concerning the enforcement of dress code. Throughout the United States, the unpredicted resistance towards dress code surged and made its way without fail to John W. North High School, where numerous actions have been taken to combat hostility aimed at the administration. There was a meeting on the morning of August 23rd between the principal, Mrs. Jodi Gonzales, and a portion of the student body discussing and expressing issues with the current dress code. 

In an interview with the principal she said, “If you think about it, the number one reason why a kid comes to school is to graduate, so there has to be some level of expectation for dress and behavior while kids are at school.” The dress code was originally created for a reason, however, it can be debated that it has been seemingly blown out of proportion. 

While the dress code did previously exist, the threat of it being seriously enforced by the new principal raised concern among the mainly feminine clothed students, who felt it to be unfair and completely one sided, especially considering the California heat and need for cooler clothes. The students’ anger was understandably fueled more with the same announcement about dress code implementation the next morning, which only resulted in more outrage. We spoke to senior Joel Salinas, a male student who attended the meeting with the principal and he had many thoughts on the subject. “I realized there was a problem with the dress code when the announcements started. I was really upset with the announcements because it was only like a minute- not even a minute, probably like fifteen seconds of what men couldn’t wear, so the hats- the gang affiliation. So that’s what triggered me, was that it was only fifteen seconds and then it was like two minutes for what the girls couldn’t wear.” He voiced his intentions of showing the male body’s stance on this matter, hoping to reach more people if he was the one speaking about it.

Another student who attended the meeting with the principal was junior Elizabeth Cisneros Oakes who had been confronted about wearing a halter, where she had realized that the dress code was actually going to be enforced. When asked about how the meeting went, she spoke about the actions taken and explained, “It went okay, we got a dress code and were able to make revisions on it and we’re going to turn it in to her,” but also explained there is no real solution at the moment and it’s a bit up in the air as to how this will go.

When speaking to Mrs. Gonzales about how the meeting went and what the next steps towards changing the dress code are, she also mentioned it being a bit scattered in what needs to be addressed, and explained the issue of dress code being brought up at a high school principal working group meeting. She gave a bit of insight on what is planning to happen, saying, “What happens is, every high school selects a student representative to sit on a superintendent round table committee, or an equity task force committee. We had asked even before our conversation as high school principals, we had asked that high school dress code go on the agenda for those meetings to have discussion with students reps from each of the schools to give the students a voice at that level.”

This brings a hopeful outlook for change within the dress code, and as brought up by the principal, to update it to be appropriate to today’s fashion and standards. Hopefully a positive outcome will be announced at some point in the future, and the target on feminine clothing will be removed and altered to be more reasonable. Not only will this be a positive change for North, but a positive change for all high schools in America and the school environment.