Cracking the Dress Code; Dress for Respect

“Dress Code mirrors the Community ” - Mr. Johnson  

     To say that Mr. Johnson, our principal, considers and cares for everybody’s opinions would be an understatement. Every year before he writes a new dress code he gladly takes the opinions of staff, parents, and students. Although he does keep in mind the fact that we are military kids and the things we do and even wear mirror our community. Mr. Johnson calls the dress code “the frame” and feels that it gives a lot of attention, with the mind set that “You dress for respect.” We also had an extensive conversation about his reasons for the rules given, such as holes in the pants, sagging pants, and baggy pants. He also thinks that “holes in jeans are a distraction” and that “baggy pants are so disrespectful." Mr. Johnson stated, “I should be able to walk into a class room and choose random kids to take on a trip to the White House.” Having gone to a Catholic school himself, he mentioned that they had to wear uniforms. 
Basically, he concluded by saying that he wants to leave an impression that we are a conservative military school. A familiar question asked was on the idea of uniforms and he gave me two different sides of an answer: “great idea saves money” and "it takes away kids individuality.” He talks about “the frame” with parents and kids, understanding the fact that “kids have opinions.” He tries hard to be flexible with the things that the students can do, considering that we already have to move from school to school. When asked about how often he had seen dress code regulations being broken, he proudly stated “not too often." But on those off days that he does notice “the frame” being broken, he reminds students of the rules. He sees dress code being broken most when students first walk into the school or during 1st block, adding that the dress code is “not just paper” and should be taken seriously. “If I don’t address it, it sends another message,” he explained and ended with the knowledge that he will continue to enforce dress code everyday.