Penn-Trafford High School recently altered its dress code policies in the handbook to ensure certain guidelines were being followed. Administration said that both teachers and student council representatives were involved in the process of modifying these rules.

     One of the more prominent changes involves crop top length. Specifically, students are not allowed to wear shirts that show more of their stomach than they can measure with two or three fingers.

     “The changes were simply more defining what was already allowed,” P-T assistant principal Amy Horvat stated. “We were defining that you are allowed to wear shirts that show your stomach, but we’ve just now given a measure.” 

     These policy alterations also reinforced the definition of what is considered a “top.” Horvat said this came about because students were coming into the nurse’s office because a teacher said that something was inappropriate, and the student would take that off and wear what was underneath.

     “When you wear sports bras, bralettes, those types of things,” Horvat said. “It’s different than if you wear that running around the track. There should be things that are appropriate in certain places.”

     For about two months, the student council representatives and the female teachers came up with a compromise.

     “So that wasn’t just me making a decision; it was a consensus of the student council and teachers,” Horvat added. “I have had parents on both sides of the coin come in and are upset with me since the change was made.” 

     Horvat said that teachers and some people in the community told her they were appalled by what students had been wearing to school.

     Some parents have told her that the policies are too strict or not strict enough and that administration should remember that this is a school building and not consider what “fashion” is right now.

     “I had made an announcement earlier in the school year to just please be careful what you’re wearing,” Horvat said, “because then I would have to make changes if you didn’t, and that didn’t happen.” 

     Some high school students have been comparing the dress code changes to the policies they experienced in middle school, which included specific guidelines for how long, tight or torn clothing should be.

     “We are trying to define them a little better so people aren’t pushing limits,” Horvat said. “The other challenge is that it’s just been an uncomfortable topic that everyone seems to have feelings about.”

Abby Dreistadt, Editor In Chief