Good signs emerge from school-dress dispute

This is progress.

Two encouraging signs for the Beaufort County School District have emerged from an unfortunate incident earlier this month at H.E. McCracken Middle School in Bluffton.

The incident sparked complaints by three parents to the Bluffton Police Department. The parents said the school went too far in inspecting for violations of the dress code. One parent complained that a female teacher put her hand in an eighth-grade female student’s front pocket three times during a uniform inspection.

Separate investigations by the police and the school district found no wrongdoing.

But Superintendent Jeff Moss made it clear that mistakes were made. He promised to reinforce to all principals that teachers and administrators must not touch students or their clothing while looking into dress-code violations. He is right.

No touching — even when women inspect the girls and men inspect the boys — is the appropriate rule. It is understandable that touching would make students uncomfortable and their parents upset. The result is wasted time and effort for everyone.

Also encouraging is the school board’s reaction. Even as Moss told members of his efforts to prevent this in the future, board members raised good questions about the process. One sensible response came from David Striebinger of Lady’s Island: “If you can’t tell by looking that it’s a dress-code violation, why do this? It’s (about) the visual, isn’t it?”

As a result of the public dialogue by elected leaders, new board chairman Patricia Felton-Montgomery of Sun City assigned the student services committee to take a closer look at enforcement of the dress regulations. That is a breath of fresh air. Rather than getting defensive about an uncomfortable conflict or taking it into an executive session, the board has now opted to talk about it openly as adults and leaders. This is progress.

We would caution that board members must offer guidance without getting into the weeds of building management. But from their discussion could come an honest look, with parental input, at what is working and what is not working in the school dress codes and school uniform policies.

The dress codes are vital to the schools. They must work.

While it may seem silly to go to such lengths to determine whether a dark fabric is denim (which is not allowed) or a denim-like material (which is allowed), another issue is at play here. That issue is not a test of fabrics, but a test of wills. It is the establishment of who is in charge of the school — the children or the adults, the teachers or the parents. Students will push every rule and requirement that comes their way, and it is imperative that the faculty and staff consistently and fairly remain the alpha dogs.

To do that, they must not give the students easy wins by touching them or sticking hands in their pockets.

The school district has reacted appropriately to the incident at McCracken. The result should be rules that are fair, simple, easily enforced, clear and well-known to parents — and backed up by principals, the superintendent and the board.

This story was originally published January 21, 2017 at 8:33 AM with the headline "Good signs emerge from school-dress dispute."