In two to four weeks a Tennessee lawmaker will introduce a bill to push for a dress code to be introduced in schools throughout the districts, but there’s a twist — parents will be impacted by the policy along with students and faculty.
According to Rep. Antonio Parkinson, the dress code and code of conduct was driven by parents, educators, and principals who were worried about the clothing and actions of some visitors to schools in the districts. Parkinson, who is in the early stages of planning the bill, told Yahoo Lifestyle Jan. 22 that the policy extends to everyone who sets foot on the premises of local schools, including visitors and those who work at and attend them.
The lawmaker also says the measure will serve to prevent fights from breaking out on the school grounds and keep visitors from arriving on campus in inappropriate clothing or being under the influence.
“I had one elementary school principal tell me about a parent coming to pick up their child with lingerie on and body parts hanging out,” he said, adding an account of a different parent arriving and smelling of marijuana, which led to the school office filling up with the stench.
“We want to protect our students. We want to protect the staff and we want to protect the integrity of the institution,” Parkinson told Fox 13 on Jan. 21. “We hold our children accountable. We hold educators accountable with appropriate conduct, and anyone else should be held to the same standards.”
The state representative said that once the policy is introduced, each individual school across the 137 districts will be responsible for coming up with their own different codes for dress and conduct. At the beginning of each school year the institutions would need to hand out the policies to parents. They also would need to post the policies at the entrances of the school building.
While Parkinson aims to prohibit bullying with the measure, not everyone is on board with it. And they’ve let their feelings be known on Twitter.
“This law (if passed) will NOT survive in court because it’s blatantly UNCONSTITUTIONAL. We HAVE indecent exposure laws to address this already. Anything more is the govt trying to decide how people should dress. ILLEGAL!!! The courts will kick this DUMB ASS law right out the door.”
“P.S. Fighting is already illegal as is being intoxicated in public. How about coming up with some new laws?”
“No i dont think i need to govement telling me how to do anything else you have too much power over our lifes i cannot help there are idiots out there who cant show up in public decent but dont push more and more laws on me and my family we the public are getting fed up with this.”
Yahoo Lifestyle reported Parkinson responded to concerned Facebook commenters over the matter. He clarified the policy is affecting all those who step on school grounds, including faculty. And he added that the uniforms students wear will not be part of the pending policy.
