Dress Code

Students frequently express dissatisfaction or annoyance toward the dress code, or rather, how it is enforced. The school dress code has been a controversial topic among both students and teachers since its inception.

According to many teachers and students, it is not uncommon for teachers to enforce the dress code on female students more strictly than on male students.

"In general, people would address girls' dress code violations more than they would address boys'," teacher Angelina Thornsley said. "For instance, 'Bro Tank Tuesday.' [Boys] should not be wearing tank tops without following the same regulations, but society in general tends to be more accepting of [tanks] for boys."

Dress code policies, particularly in high school, are commonly challenged by female and feminist students. The policies are labeled as sexist, degrading and demeaning.

"If guys can have their pants at their knees, why can't we wear short shorts?" freshman Cassie Fenton said.

More often than not, administrators claim that dress codes ensure that students are not distracted during the academic day. Which, in turn, initiates negative responses from female students relating to the sexualization of underage students as well as the value of male students' educations over girls'.

"Even if it's not intentional, there is sexism," freshman Richard McCormick said.

"I got sent home once for wearing shorts that were less than a centimeter too short," freshman Lilly Fischer, said. "It's not my fault that guys can't focus because they can see my legs. Instead of teaching girls that they can't show skin whatsoever, teach guys to respect women. It's not my job to dress in a way that is tailored to the guys at this school."

On the other hand, many students and teachers are happy with the dress code.

"There's a lot of opportunity to dress how you want without looking [provocative]," freshman Kayleigh Van Parys, said. "The style between girls and guys is different because of the body structure, but overall I think [the dress code] is good."

"I think it's reasonable. I wouldn't want my kids dressing inappropriately. I see girls wearing very explicit clothing every day at school, and I would honestly be embarrassed having my daughter wear that," said senior Mackenzie Jansen.

According to the student handbook, having a dress code in place ensures less gang, drug, or substance abuse affilated activity at school and can, potentially, help to avoid fights, and other harmful situations in school.

"I think it's great. No one takes it so far that anyone is ever uncomfortable. Besides that guy who wears a kilt," said sophomore Hannah Pierce.

"I love that it's not strict," senior Vincent Figueroa said. "Some rules are [strict], but some can be broken. The cheerleaders get to dress up on game days, and their skirts are higher than they should be. But that really only matters because everyone should be given the same abilities, rather than only the cheerleaders having that opportunity."

The cheerleaders are asked to wear their uniforms during school on game days. Other students, however, think this is unfair to them, since the length of the skirts is a clear violation of the school mandated dress code.

"We get a lot of comments on how short the skirts are, and people say that they're too short," freshman cheerleader Laura Meehan, said. "We get judged a lot, but it's not really our fault. We don't pick the uniform- we don't pick how short they are."

Students express their personality via clothing daily. Dress code policies keep skin-showing to a minimum, but in some ways, limit students' ability to convey the message they want to send through what they wear. Coconino's dress code is very lenient, and self expression is allowed, just in a way that is appropriate for an academic environment.