Arabia Mountain High School is, respectably, a uniform school—all students should abide by the dress code. As lovely as it is that the dress code allows things like sweaters in the first place, the sweaters can only be solid navy/hunter green, white or black. This means that the outerwear can't be multicolored at all, and if it is, it violates the student dress code. This includes: 

Big logos that are in uniform colors

Small logos that are in uniform colors (this includes small Nike checks, and even the AMHS logo)

Patterns like stripes, dots, etc.

During my sophomore year at AMHS, I used to wear a white sweater with the University of Chicago logo in the middle. It was a big logo in black but had hints of red accents surrounding it. I wore this exact sweater throughout the entire year—not one teacher said anything about it, not one staff member that enforced the dress code perfectly said anything about it, and even when I asked one of the Administration staff members if my sweater was violating the dress code, they said that it was completely fine. 

Now, I'm a Junior that thought I understood the dress code to a tee. Solid color shoes? My air force 1's were perfect for that. Uniform colored shirts and pants? I had them months before school even started. However, among all of those clothes was my University of Chicago sweater that I wore during 10th grade. I put my uniform shirt collar over the sweater, and went off to school. Again, nobody said a word about it while I was there, but that's when my second class came about. My teacher let me in the classroom, but after a couple of minutes, she pointed out that the sweater I was wearing wasn't uniform. I didn't say anything back to her as it confused me that every single teacher said not a single word to me, except for this one. My day continued, and every teacher after them allowed me to wear the sweater. 

The next day, the same cycle of events happened—I wore the sweater, nobody said anything about it except my second class teacher (this specific day they also told me that my black headband wasn't allowed even though the dress code states that students can wear headbands only if it's in a school color), and I went about my day. On the third day of school I switched to a solid white sweater just so I didn't have to hear anything from that one specific teacher which isn't a fair trade-off at all. On the fourth day of school, I decided to wear a white sweater with "New York City" as the logo. The logo was hunter green with a black outline that surrounded the font. Once again, nobody said a word except for my second class teacher, who pulled me to the side before I even got to go inside the classroom. She told me that my sweater wasn't uniform, and wouldn't allow me to come inside the class unless I took it off. Say I was being over-dramatic, but I wasn't comfortable enough to take off the sweater for personal reasons I feel like I shouldn't have to explain to anyone, including my teacher. I asked if I could get a note from the Principal stating that what I was wearing didn't violate the dress code, she agreed as long as it was an email instead. She called the front office (I don't know why, I assume to announce that I was coming) and gave me a pass. To make a long story short, I didn't get to see the Principal. Instead, I saw someone who I assumed was the Assistant Principal (I still don't know). They told me that what I was wearing wasn't uniform and that it could only a solid uniform color. What I didn't appreciate, though, was the way she danced around one of my questions. 

"Would the sweater be allowed if it were a small Nike check?"

She didn't answer my question even though I asked twice. She kept repeating herself and said that it needed to be a solid color, but suggested to take the sweater off for that class period only. Why should I have to take off the sweater for a singular class? Is that how it works? The dress code only applies to some classes? Other people can wear sweaters exactly like mine with zero problem, but if I wear it in a specific class, I can't even enter the room?

The point isn't to have the staff of AMHS crack down even harder on the dress code, the point is to remove a rule that the entire AMHS staff including Administration proved isn't worth enforcing. Please keep in mind that there are students just like me that wear sweaters just like mine that walk freely among the schools and aren't stopped by staff. So if this is the case, why keep the rule if it isn't a problem in the first place? It's not a win/lose situation, in fact it's a win/win. The dress code gets rid of more grey area and the staff can continue with their hard work; the students can express themselves more while also abiding by the dress code. 

I hope that the staff of AMHS will take this petition the word of the students and will consider our requests. Thank you, and have a good day, Rams.