Pitt County Schools Dress Code Petition

Some aspects of the Pitt County Schools dress code policy are outdated, and violate student expression. Here's why and how we can change it.

Before we begin, this is a petition to update the dress code, not to remove it entirely. We understand that students need to be dressed appropriately for school; that said, our request is to refine two rules of the dress code policy, to modernize and update them to fit the current age. We respect boundaries and will make sure all rules will fit appropriate standards for school. 

The two main rules we would like to touch on are:

 - “Dresses, shorts, skorts, skirts, and jumpers must be modest and of sufficient length. The length of these articles of clothing may not be above the student’s fingertips when the student’s arms are relaxed at his or her sides.”

“Dresses, shorts, skorts, skirts, and jumpers must be modest and of sufficient length. The length of these articles of clothing may not be above the student’s fingertips when the student’s arms are relaxed at his or her sides.” As we stated above, the school does this so the way a student dresses is “suitable for a learning environment.” This rule specifically affects girls, and whether or not they can wear shorts to school at all. As a girl, I don't have a single pair of shorts that gets down to my fingertips (I have long arms). If girls want to wear shorts to school, we have to wear boys shorts because that long shorts for girls just simply don’t exist. We understand that this rule is so that nobody wears shorts that show their behind, but if we wear shorts as fit the guidelines, they cover our whole thigh area, which is not comfortable. Our request is to have an adjusted rule, that shorts are allowed as long as your butt isn’t visible at any time. It will be more comfortable for girls, and will still remain school appropriate. Our main goal here is to make students comfortable so they can remain focused during class, and still show student expression and individuality. Schools say that their main focus is education, so students should be able to focus on school instead of worrying about what to wear every day.  

 - “Denim bottoms must be a solid color with no holes or cuts.”

“Denim bottoms must be a solid color with no holes or cuts.” This rule is fairly simple, but it causes problems because ripped jeans are simply another way for students to express themselves. We understand where the rule is coming from, but most ripped jeans only show your knees. An alternative rule could be that ripped jeans are allowed as long as the rips are not inappropriately placed.

If you want to help more with this project to change the dress code you can fill out this Google Form.

It would help us a lot with giving your thoughts and opinions as a student, parent, teacher, or citizen. If you have ever been dress coded for a reason that has made you feel upset or angry, we suggest filling the form out and telling us what happened.

Our goal is to get 1,000 signatures on this petition, and bring more attention to this problem. Once we are enough prepared and we have more signatures and forms, we will present our case to the Pitt County School Board of Education.

Thank you to everyone who has helped edit and write our documents.

-Andie Schwartz

-Matthew Rushing

-Maya Swaggerty

A note from the writers: We would like you to please consider signing our petition. We are in eighth grade at E.B. Aycock Middle School, and we are trying to create equality in all of Pitt County Schools.