High school principal says dress code working; board member wants it changed

Principal Jeff Kleck announced at yesterday’s Governing Board meeting that the dress code at Maricopa High School has greatly improved the appearance of students on campus, causing suspected gang-related attire – and activity – to diminish.

“In reality the students we suspected of gang activity were the first to comply with the dress code,” Kleck said.

At this point, Kleck said the school is running into issues with the wording of the code and the attire that it bans (click here to view dress code). Students are not permitted to wear any clothes with logos larger than a two-inch square unless it is a school logo.

“We have students wearing logos that we know are not gang-related but with the wording of the code we are required to make them change,” Kleck said.

Kleck suggested reviewing the code and deciding what is most critical and logical for the school to use and maintain.

“It is really a matter of how much more time we want to spend on enforcing this dress code when we have already seen big improvement in the areas we were most concerned with.”

Board member Tim White voiced his concern that the dress code the middle and high schools created was not entirely being followed.

“Enforcing the dress code is not happening and I want to know when it is going to happen,” White said.

Kleck responded saying he is very pleased with the results and agrees that the schools created the dress code and should enforce it.

He reminded the board, however, that it was difficult to determine how much time the dress code would take to enforce at the time of its creation and that is why there is not complete compliance among the students with the code. He also said that high school students test their limits and will continue to push the boundaries of the dress code.

White suggested the way to make the students comply would be to require uniforms at the schools, and then asked Kleck to create a new dress code in 60 days that would fit the school better.

During the discussion, Kleck also announced that the fights on campus have greatly diminished. According to Assistant principal Valerie Whitchurch, there has not been a fight on campus for three weeks.

Whitchurch was also quick to point out that the majority of fights are not gang-related and only one incident on campus was classified as gang activity.

“Most of the fights are actually between girls,” Whitchurch said.

According to Kleck, the school enforced strict consequences at the beginning of the year, which he believes has helped to deter students from fighting. The administration is also working to solve problems between students before the issues turn into fights.

Photo by Katie Winkley