School Dress Code Frustration

So my daughter has been back to school for the last 3 weeks now, and there was a new change to the school dress code that has me stumped, as she’s been dress-coded twice already.

We spent the weekend looking for outfits that would both satisfy my daughter as well as the school dress code, and we came up empty-handed.

My daughter’s style is distinctly “athleisure” – shorts, leggings, athletic tops, sneakers, etc.

We already knew she couldn’t wear her athletic shorts to school as they are too short and that has been the dress code for ages. So we were accustomed to that rule and able to comply.

However, this year the school updated the dress code to no longer allow leggings UNLESS the top is long enough to cover the crotch area. Issue #1) Except for shorts, my daughter only has leggings to wear; and Issue #2) None of her shirts are long enough to cover the crotch area.

So, in order to comply… my daughter has been wearing baggy oversized hoodies over her leggings to school everyday while it’s been 90+ degrees F outside and she gets hot easily all day in class. It is uncomfortable and distracting to her.

And the 2 times she got dress-coded at school, was when she had a school soccer game that evening and the school soccer coach asked the girls to wear their jersey tops that day. (This is typical for all the athletes of all sports at school to do this on game days). However, her soccer jersey (assigned by the school) was not long enough to cover her bottom area while she was wearing her leggings, AND, she cannot wear her soccer shorts (also assigned by the school) because they are too short.

She was definitely entrapped to fail dress-code those days. Now on game days, she wears her school soccer jersey UNDERNEATH her baggy oversized hoodie and nobody can even see that she is on the school soccer team.

To say I am frustrated is an understatement. We went shopping this weekend with the sole intention of finding different pants or shirts that would comply with dress-code. My daughter found some shirts she liked that were long enough, BUT, they were too low in the front so still not eligible for school. And for some reason my daughter refuses to wear jeans (which would help tremendously) so we were unable to find different pants that would work for school.

So now my daughter is going to look online for some sweatpants she’d like. I’m not thrilled that her dress-for-success look at school will be sweatpants going-forward.

But also, I’m starting to notice that the dress-code at school is mostly impacting the female students. For example, the only way boys can violate dress code at school is to be missing their shirts or bottoms, wear something offensive, exposing their underwear, or by wearing a sleeveless top. But girls can literally be covered from head-to-toe, only exposing their hands and face, and STILL get dress-coded. Is that fair?

I think not. Your thoughts?