Chambersburg Students Speak Out Against New Dress Code
By: Jennifer Lee
Updated: November 16, 2012
Casi Cuff, a junior at Chambersburg High School, says she is now struggling and rummaging through her drawers because of a new code.
"This is the only thing I can wear next year because it's a polo with a less than two-inch logo and it has buttons so I can cover up everything," says Cuff.
Cuff says she is one of many students frustrated over the dress code. She is also one of many sent home for wearing tight clothing and showing too much. In total, five students have been sent home and three were given in-school suspensions.
"The first marking period my grades were not very good because the classes I was doing bad in I couldn't go to school," says Cuff. "I couldn't go to school, so I couldn't get any help with them and I couldn't keep up with my work because I was out of school so much."
"Some people can't even afford new clothes now," says student Becca Cuff. "They have to get clothes from older people or older family members."
"How can you excel at anything, even in creativity, if you're not allowed to be creative in your dress," says Joan Smith, Chambersburg School Board.
The new policy addresses everything from shoes, to how tight or loose fitting clothes can be. For the school year two inch logos are allowed, and after that they'll be cut. Smith says she is against the new dress code, but says for now it is...what it is.
"You've got to be respectful all the same when you're in school and I am," says Smith. "I was just for the original dress code, add something to it, and move on. I'm really sad for these girls."
Parents say they are upset too, but Cuff and her classmates must adhere to the new policy starting next school year.
For the latest regulations on Dress Code Click Here. In addition to those rules the School Board has also decided to modify at the elementary level, allow two inch logos for the first year, add more parents to the committee, and not mandate wearing belts but encourage students to wear them.


