Portsmouth Schools rewrite student dress code following petition

By: Ellie Romano

Email: ERomano@ABC6.com

Twitter: @ERomanoABC6

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (WLNE) – Portsmouth’s School District is changing its dress code after several students started a petition over it.

5th grader Ava McDermott created the petition with her friend after being disciplined several times for breaking dress code.

“Her teacher said her shorts were a little too short,” said Ava’s mother Lisa McDermott.

The 2018-2019 student handbook outlines the student dress code. It states halter tops, tube tops, or tank tops are inappropriate. It also bans hats, bandannas, exposed midriffs, pajamas, masks, and sunglasses. 

The handbook includes guidelines for measuring students’ clothes and states shorts must be long enough so a student can extend their arm and make a fist at the hemline. Skirts must be long enough so a student can extend their arms and the hemline touches at least their
fingertips.

“All that language really only pertains to the female students, and that’s what was so problematic to begin with,” said McDermott.

Ava’s petition got more than 600 signatures, and caught the attention of school leaders. 

At Tuesday night’s School Committee meeting, a new dress code was unanimously passed that’s a relaxed version of the previous code. 

“It’s very bare-bones. It doesn’t have any language about what the girls can and can’t wear,” said McDermott.

For a complete look at the new guidelines, click here. 

The new code leaves a student’s outfit up to the parent’s discretion.

“If the parent allowed the child to leave the house in that outfit in the morning, it’s nobody’s business to tell the student that their outfit is or is not appropriate,” said McDermott. “Everybody has a different definition of what’s appropriate.”

According to the district’s superintendent’s office, this new policy will be sent out to parents for feedback.

A final dress code will be adopted at a School Committee meeting on September 10th. The policy will then be sent to the Town Council for approval.

© WLNE-TV 2019