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Show Debate persists among students wearing shorts in Davis schools more calls about wearing shorts in school than anything else during his years of service on the Board. He suggested meeting with school principals at the end of the school year and determine if this action was a right decision. Board Member Dee Forbes said the impact of shorts had reached many elementary schools. He stated he had talked to many people peo-ple and he hadn't found anyone that favored the change of policy. WHILE EVERYONE would probably agree that wearing shorts J to school won't mean the end of our education system, many pa- f rents and educators think the poli- ; cy change makes as much sense as -i this equation one junior high teacher asks her students to solve before they can wear shorts to her class "Modest Length X is equal to : length of thigh and Y is modest j short length. Y is greater than or equal to X over 2." many parents and teachers are opposed to shorts in school. Typical Typic-al comments are that shorts are too casual for school and that they are really "play" clothing. Some teachers feel that discipline is harder har-der to maintain when the students wear shorts or other clothing extremes. ex-tremes. Others state the casual look detracts from the image the school system portrays to visitors and patrons. At the May 6th Board of Education Educa-tion meeting, Richard Parmley, a concerned parent, acted as spokesperson spokes-person for many parents in attendance attend-ance at the meeting and in the county at large. He brought up the items already mentioned in this article and then asked, "What is appropriate, modest attire.." In part, he supplied an answer to his own question by stating, "Everyone "Every-one is different. ..The policy has a , vagueness that means no one . knows what is expected." MR. PARMLEY gave the Board members petitions signed by parents pa-rents against shorts. He indicated 95 percent of the parents contacted opposed the District policy. The concerned parent recom- mended the Board change the policy poli-cy or at least "specify and define what is allowed." . IN RESPONSE to Mr. Parmley's comments, Board Member Henry Heath said he was absent when the policy was changed and that he would have preferred the word "appropriate" to "modest." He noted that no matter what the standard stan-dard is, there are those who will Use clothing to make a point. Mr. Heath said, "I think principals and teachers can handle it." This board member observed, "One school in the district has allowed it (shorts) for years, against policy, but without problems." prob-lems." BRUCE PARRY, another Board member, said he had received By DONETA GATHERUM A pop song from a few years back asked, "Who wears shorts shorts?" Parents, teachers, school administrators and students in the Davis School District have rephrased the question somewhat to ask "How short are shorts?" and "Are shorts and school compatible?" com-patible?" THE ANSWERS vary as much as the styles and lengths of the shorts that were seen in Davis County schools the day after the Board of Education altered the dress policy by removing the word "shorts" from the document and inserting the word "modest." The change was made the evening of April 15. The next day was cool and over cast but short-clad students appeared ready for school. CRITICS of the policy were ready also. They claim correctly that the first few days after the policy poli-cy change many schools looked like carnivals as students experimented ex-perimented to see just what the district dis-trict policy meant. Between April 16 and May 6th many adjustments have been made on the individual school level. Students Stu-dents have been sent home to change. Many educators note that often it isn't necessary for the students stu-dents to go all the way home. More appropriate clothing can frequently frequent-ly be found in the short shorts-clad student's locker. Posters, designed through the cooperation of school administrators, PTA representatives, representa-tives, teachers and student government govern-ment leaders, now appear in many schools defining appropriate lengths and styles. THE TESTING period seems to be over and the volume of students wearing possibly in appropriate clothing noted the first week or two of the policy change have lessened in number and style extremes. Still |