HOUSTON — A Houston high school, like many schools, has a dress code for students, but now the parents of the teens who attend James Madison High School must also abide by a dress code.
Principal Carlotta Outley Brown outlined what is not allowed when visiting the campus, KHOU reported.
The list includes:
- Satin caps
- Shower caps
- Hair rollers
- House shoes
- Pajamas
- Ripped jeans
- Leggings when worn with a shirt that allows areas of the body to be seen
- Low-cut, revealing tops
- Sagging pants
- Undershirts
- Daisy Dukes
- Low rider shorts
- Short dresses
The principal's letter said that if a parent comes on campus dressed in one of the prohibited styles, they will not be allowed to enter the building until "appropriately dressed for the school setting."
Brown told parents that while they value the partnership between parents and educators when it comes to learning, “please know we have to have standards, most of all we must have high standards.”
She added, “We want them [the students] to know what is appropriate and what is not appropriate for any setting they may be in.”
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But not all of the parents agree with the rules Brown has set out.
"I think it's ridiculous," Dora Breeding told KHOU. "We are an adult and we are taxpaying adults and we shouldn't be told what to do or what not wear. We are not the students, we are the parents."
Last week a mother tried to enroll her daughter at the school, but was told that she wasn’t permitted on campus because of how she was dressed at the time.
Joselyn Lewis told KPRC she went to Madison High School dressed with a headscarf and a T-shirt dress depicting Marilyn Monroe.
At first, Lewis thought the administrator made a mistake, thinking she was a student. But when she explained she was a parent, she said the official was not allowing her on school property.
"She went on to say that she still couldn't let me on the premises because I was not in dress code and I still didn't understand what that meant. She said that my headscarf was out of dress code and my dress was too short," Lewis told KPRC.