Behind the scenes, a group of ten students and two faculty members met once every three weeks for the first semester, brainstorming changes that could improve the dress code at Providence Day. By looking at other private school's dress codes nationwide, the committee worked together to put forth some ideas to change PD’s dress guidelines.
Because PD is a TK through 12 campus, the main guideline strictly states that students have to wear clothing that is appropriate for school. When the Charger sat down with the Dean of students, Gordon Bynum, he said, "since the 2000-01 school year, the dress code has primarily been the same with a few minor changes, but there definitely is consideration for broader changes mainly because of the ideas put forth by the dress code committee,”
Historically, males have been required to wear and tuck in collared shirts; females always had to meet the “fingertips length rule” with their shorts, and the “four finger width rule” for their shirts.
“Over the past couple years the dress code has had some minor changes”-Bynum
Some of the minor changes that have occurred include: allowing camouflage clothing, allowing collared shirts to be untucked, allowing Jack Rogers sandals to be worn, and making four inch inseam shorts the minimum required length for males and females.
The only rule that was passed this year was the facial hair rule. Along with that rule, the committee proposed earrings for men, ripped clothing within reason, and allowing t shirts to be worn whenever. Overall, the committee thinks that the dress code should be more relaxed to allow a less stressful school day. It is said that students feel less stressed when wearing more comfortable clothing.
When the committee looked at each private school's dress codes in Charlotte, it found out that the dress codes are all pretty similar with a few differences at each school. For example, Country Day is allowed to wear t-shirts any day of the week, but at PD, Latin, and Christian, t shirts are only allowed on Fridays or designated spirit days.
“It would be nice to see my work and fellow peers in the committee’s work pay off and see a change”- Nami
Even though he is graduating this spring, Daniel Nami would like to see his committee's hard work pay off. Nami has served a plethora of closed lunches for breaking the dress code daily with his ripped clothing and tshirts. He played a very active role in the committee this year.
With the great ideas generated by the committee, Bynum said, “I would love to see more of those requested by the committee be put into effect this summer." This summer, there will be a meeting discussing the proposals made by the committee in further detail, and Bynum said, “I think there will be some changes this summer, but it’s hard to predict what those might be.”
In its first year of existence, the dress code committee has brought up issues that will result in a new dress code on campus.
By: Max Lahn
Dean Bynum pointing out recent changes in the Dress Code Handbook.
Senior Ryan Burgoyne showing off his beard that is allowed for second semester.
The PDS community will await the results of the meeting this summer with high expectations. The dress code committee deserves all the credit for the great ideas they proposed to help make the Providence Day School dress code the best it can be.
The Charger got to sit down with Nami after his recent closed lunch for his dress code violation. Nami shared his thoughts and said, “I understand why dress codes are needed at schools because they want to keep an environment where students can be perceived in a positive manner because it's too open sometimes, and people abuse it. But for me personally, I just feel very strongly about my personal style, and a lot of times I feel like I am being restricted to wear clothes that don’t fit my style.” Nothing pushes Nami’s buttons more than when the school tries to control what he can wear, and he wants to change that to help other kids that might be in his position down the road.
Senior Daniel Nami wearing clothing that he would like to see be allowed for next year.
By Max Lahn
New Dress Code For the 2017-2018 School Year?
Photo Courtesy of Polyvore
After looking at other schools policies on facial hair, the committee proposed that PDS allow facial hair for senior males. The student's argument was that multiple other schools in the area allow it, where PD and Latin don’t. For the second semester, the facial hair rules have been changed allowing senior males to grow facial hair solely because of the committee.
Never before has PDS had a dress code committe, but in it's first year it is already having a positive impact on the entire community. The creation of the committe started to give students a say in what they can wear to school.
The Charger, March 2017
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