<p>Wow. Great job assuming positive intent on this. While I don’t think it is something a school board can or should actually legislate or enforce…the idea is sound. Let me try to explain why. </p>
<p>I student-taught in an inner-city district hs. I also have done some outreach programs with some Dallas ISD HSs.</p>
<p>One of the ways the principals try to help kids beyond ‘grades’ is to help them develop a sense of self-respect and public decorum. How they dress is important to the message overall. Many kids are trying to make their lives better than how the parents had it. However, they need good role models. I know there are anecdotal examples exceptions… and it is not a popular opinion on this thread, but kids notice if parents care enough to do the basics. This does not mean you need to be dressed as a ‘Stepford wife’ or anything like that. Just wear actual clothing. How long does it take to pull on some jeans and a polo? Slip on shoes?. I doubt this came to light over it happening once or twice when parents are running late.</p>
<p>Sorry, but I don’t have a lot of sympathy for regularly not getting yourself or your family organized and to school, dressed on time. I have 4 kids spanning 7 years and almost always managed to be appropriately dressed when I left the house to get them to school on time…even with pre-schoolers. Wake up earlier. Organize yourself. Set a better example for your kids to follow. You will be amazed by how much better they do for themselves.</p>
<p>Dh drops the kids off at school twice a week. He’s probably wearing bike clothes, which may be slightly better than sweats. The youngest has to carry both a bass and golf clubs, plus a backpack (books,computer,lunch)…</p>
<p>The oldest walks to school three times a week, only because he attends a college class before school and the college is conveniently located halfway between school and home (~20 min walk to college). </p>
<p>The school bus stops literally in front of our house. Both district schools are within walking distance of the entire neighborhood, yet we have several school buses to cover the entire small neighborhood (start times are staggered so we use the same buses at least). </p>
<p>That being said, the drop off loop for both schools are jammed every single day because parents drop their kids off. I don’t care how they dress, as long as they do. </p>
<p>Really Torveaux, putting on jeans and a tee shirt is going to set a better example? Organize myself? What does driving a kid to school with my pj’s on and hair in a ponytail have to do with anything? Good for you that you like to do that, but it doesn’t mean you are setting some better example.</p>
<p>Btw, I will let my kiddo that saw me in sweats or pjs know that I was wrong. Next time I visit her at her med school. Poor kid, mommy was a sloppy mess. Boo hoo</p>
<p>You are right, GA2012MOM, a lot of kids will understand the appropriateness of dress whether a parent models it or not. </p>
<p>On the subject of driving rich kids to prep school, one of our carpool moms used to wear her pajamas and robe on her driving day. When I saw it for the first time, (yes, it is visible to those who see you driving and when the car door opens), I said to my D: Mrs. Smith was wearing her robe to drive you guys today?? D replied, Yes mom, she does that every time she drives. Don’t worry, we all think she is ridiculous.</p>
<p>I am not going to dress up when I am not required to be at work for another 2 hours. I’m just not. And I am not alone, yet somehow the kids showing up at my kid’s school, even the lower income kids, show up dressed according to school dress code. And most parents come to school events in proper clothes. I get the point the board member is trying to make. She’s still wrong.</p>
<p>And Bay, I was wondering when you’d chime in, what with your horror of “sloppy sweats”. Which I think about every time I go to the grocery store.</p>
<p>Lol, that was one of my favorite threads, sseamom! I still think about the fact that I was skewered for saying I would be upset if guests showed up at my D’s wedding wearing sloppy sweats, and I still don’t get it. :)</p>
<p>I think this is an accomplished woman who cares about her community and is interested in having everyone work towards bettering one another. </p>
<p>She wants to bring pride to those around her and help people feel better about themselves. </p>
<p>It is something small to ask but it might be the start of something great. It’s like planting one flower in a overrun lot. Soon everyone plants a flower and the lot is a garden. The community is bettered by its existence.</p>
<p>"Osgood’s suggestions don’t ban specific items, but rather include “dressing as though you’re going to church, work, or dinner.”</p>
<p>Sorry, but all I’m doing after dropping kid off at 7am is going home and going back to bed. And I couldn’t care less if anyone saw me driving in my jams. I don’t even dress like I am going to church, work or dinner to run errands around town when I have been up for hours, so certainly not going to dress like that to drop kid off at ungodly hour of the morning. </p>
<p>I agree with her in concept, too, sax. Even if some don’t care how anyone dresses, a lot of people do, so it matters whether one wants it to or not. That is something all kids need to learn at some point.</p>
<p>In many communities, high schools start classes very early – in my community, at 7:25. If a student has to walk a mile or two, the student has to get up earlier than would be necessary if someone with a car dropped the student off at school.</p>
<p>Even if the student is entitled to ride a school bus, dropping the student off in the car may allow the student to sleep later. The buses are often scheduled so that they drop students at school a half or or more before classes start so that the buses can get started on their middle school run.</p>
<p>It is one thing when a parent drives her kid to the school in her pjs and curlers. It is a totally different issue when the parent shows up at a school event in said attire. Most of us here would be ok with the former but not with the latter, and , as sseamom said, kids are smart enough to differentiate these situations. The principal should pick her battles… But wait, maybe by raising controversy around the drop off parking lot “dress code” she is actually trying to draw attention to the bigger issue. </p>
<p>When I had preschoolers and had to get out of the car to walk them into the building, of course I wore something different than when I didn’t have to get out of the car. If I have to get out of the car, I will dress differently (as I suspect many on here would). Different experiences.</p>
<p>When I used to work, I often was on-call during evenings/nights and weekends (until Monday mornings at 8:30), many times, when I was on call, my sleep would be interrupted with at least a phone call, or sometimes having to go out during the night. Again, many times, after I dropped my kids off at school, I went back to bed/sleep, which is why I found no need to do anything other than throw a coat over my PJs to drive them to school. If there were any possibility that I would need to get out of the car (never happened after driving two kids to high school over four years), I would dress differently. And when it wasn’t warm enough to throw on a jacket or coat, I always threw on a sweatshirt so that anyone who saw me driving, had no idea that I had PJ bottoms on. My kids had no problem with me doing this because they knew no one would see me. </p>
<p>Disadvantaged kids need every advantage they can get. People need to stop making this personal. Me in pj’s is not the same as a young dad with no job who dresses like a convict.</p>