Portsmouth School Committee To Vote On New Dress Code

PORTSMOUTH, RI — The Portsmouth School Committee is set to issue a final decision on a new, district-wide dress code on Tuesday. The new policy was drafted after a pair of fifth graders started a petition saying the dress code unfairly targeted female students.

"Many of the girls in the Portsmouth Middle School community have a issue with the way we're being treated. We feel that our school wide dress code is showing inequality to our young women," the petition reads in part. "By punishing us for our appearance you are saying it is okay for the boys in our school to not being able to look at us and see us as people and not as inanimate objects to be stared at."

The petition was started by the two girls, Ava and Sophie, who said the original policy was both unfair and in violation of female students' civil rights.

In the 2018-2019 high school student handbook, students are prohibited from wearing halter tops, tanks tops, tube tops, "excessively short or revealing neck lines" and exposed midriffs, all clothing usually worn by female students.

"Appearance and clothing should not be a distraction to student learning, i.e. pants worn low or short shorts or skirts, hair dyed an unusual color, inappropriate tops that are off the shoulder, cut low or with the midriff showing, clothing deliberately ripped or torn," the middle school dress code says.

The new dress code was first considered by the school committee on August 27, which is expected to make a final decision on Tuesday. Under the new policy, no specific articles of clothing would be banned. Instead, clothing must only cover "breasts, buttocks and genitals" with opaque fabric, all undergarments must be covered and that students must wear both a shirt and pants or the equivalent, such as a dress, leggings or shorts.