The Knox County Board of Education approved changes to the student and employee dress code for the upcoming school year during its May meeting.
Students will no longer be able to wear any clothing with holes or tears that expose skin or undergarments according to public relations director Frank Shelton.
“Our administrators stated that there was confusion last school year about what holes in garments were acceptable and which were not,” stated Shelton. “With a lot of today’s designer jeans including tears, rips, and holes to make them look vintage, the previous policy did not specify what is deemed unacceptable.”
Shelton stated that the new policy states that if skin or undergarments are visible, then the clothing is unacceptable.
The district hopes that by announcing the change early in the summer, parents will have time to shop for clothing that does not have revealing holes and tears. An employee dress code will also return to policy after being omitted from last year’s handbook.
“The only change that has been made to the employee dress code is who is permitted to wear jeans and who is not,” stated Shelton.
Allowable clothing for employees includes dress shirts, casual shirts, dress shoes, casual shoes, ties, dresses, dress slacks, casual slacks, jumpers and skirts (denim acceptable), seasonal shirts, and school logo shirts.
Jeans may only be worn by bus drivers, custodians, maintenance staff, instructional assistants, agriculture teachers, preschool teachers, and kindergarten teachers. Shorts may be worn by bus drivers and cooks may wear “scrubs.” P.E. teachers may dress appropriately for the day’s planned activities, excluding jeans of any color and shorts.