Re: Dress Code

Contact: Donna Golden ph. 706-253-1700

Over the last several months the Pickens County Board of Education has tried to address concerns raised by parents and teachers regarding the manner in which our students dress. Through several meetings with interested parents, teachers, and students, we attempted to address these concerns with a revision to our existing dress code. Although this revision certainly raised the community’s awareness as to how our students dress, the dialogue over this revision has become a distraction to what we were elected to do, namely to educate children in a secure environment.

We would like to refocus this dialogue. How our students dress is important to the process of educating our students. With the increased awareness of this importance, we felt it was in the system’s best interest to amend the recent revisions to the dress code and to observe how this new awareness affects the manner in which students dress during the coming school year. Therefore, shirts will be allowed as long as what is printed upon them is not lewd, vulgar or offensive. Pants which are not baggy and which do not have oversized pockets will be allowed, regardless of their classification as “cargo” or otherwise. Please use common sense and discretion in deciding what style of clothes to wear. As we review the information produced by these observations, we will increase our focus on the enforcement of existing policy rather than revisions to the existing policy.

We are thankful that the community’s awareness has been raised on this issue, and we hope that this interest may be used in a positive manner to help us address the way in which our students dress. Please call your child’s school if you have any questions or visit the Pickens County Schools’ web site at www.pickenscountyschools.org to view the Dress Code.

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