Father protests school dress code wearing shorts & crop-top

GILBERT (3TV/CBS 5) - Ira Latham, a father of four Higley Unified School District students, took off his clothes during a board meeting in late September to reveal short shorts and a crop top. Latham said he wanted to make a clear argument about an updated dress policy he said is vague.

“As a dad, that’s very concerned about my children as well as everyone else’s kids in the district, I wanted to make a clear argument,” said Latham.

The former policy, which hadn’t been updated for more than two decades, wouldn’t allow for a student to expose their chest, abdomen or midriff. The updated version only restricts students from exposing their underwear.

“Before they had some guidance, but now they have no guidance. It’s just ‘kids cover your underwear’,” he said.

The board later voted 3 to 2 for the updated policy.

The board has been working to update a variety of policies. This particular policy was over 20 years old. The board takes into consideration the community as a whole and I have included just one of the dozens of emails we received from the community. I understand this parents concerns. Did his removing clothing have any affect on me or the meeting? No, it didn’t. He made his statement and we carried on with our business. We heard from other speakers and moved on. As a board we voted to ultimately let parents and families decide what it appropriate for them. It is the parents and family’s choice and as long as it doesn’t disrupt the school day it would be a non issue.
I would ask you to look at Queen Creek, Chandler, Gilbert and other Arizona schools who have developed more lax dress codes. We want teachers to be teaching and not having to waste time measuring a girl’s shirt or making a girl feel uncomfortable.
To summarize this was to allow families to decide, move our policies forward and allow teachers to concentrate on teaching. I have included a parent email below that is just one of many we received. While I understand a stunt is great for news this had no affect on our meeting.

Tiffany Shultz, Governing Board President

Anna Van Hoek, a Board Member who voted against the new rules, believes not all parents’ concerns are being heard.

“The fact that we have adults advocating for children to have less clothing on is absurd to me,” said Van Hoek.

She said this change will interfere with a student’s learning experience.

“That’s what we need to concentrate on, and I think it’s doing these kids a disservice by allowing them to be able to wear whatever they want to school,” said Van Hoek.

Another board member that voted for the updated policy, sent Arizona’s Family this statement.

I do feel it is important to express that we recognize that the topic of a dress code has several varying opinions with varying degrees of importance for individuals throughout the community. The focus of the policy is to protect the learning environment of students because at the end of the day that is the ultimate goal. While I respect and understand there are some parents who are angry with the policy, the choice of one parent at the board meeting to wear clothes to express his displeasure with the policy felt like it missed the mark. The parent in question finished making his statement without issue and used the rest of his time, several community members spoke after him, and the meeting proceeded as usual without any disruption. We as a board do the best we can to try and meet the needs of a diverse community focusing on the best educational environment for all students. I believe Higley is doing that, we have remarkable academic programs, high student achievement, athletic programs, and extracurricular activities that continue to make Higley a wonderful place to receive an education.
Amanda Wade, Governing Board Member

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