District to Recommend No Changes to Student Dress Code

A student dress code adopted by the Windham School Board in March 2012 has been just a minor problem at all four Windham schools, according to a memorandum to the School Board from acting Superintendent Dr. Henry LaBranche.

LaBranche wrote that the most frequent infraction at Windham High School has been identified as short shorts.

The memorandum requests that no action be taken on the policy. The board will address the issue tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the Community Development Department conference room.

"Most often Team Leaders and/or Deans speak with students and issue a first warning before administration becomes involved," he wrote in the memo.

The policy, which was implemented in September, came under fire from a Windham parent just days after its implementation.

Michael Hatem, who has two daughters in the district, came to the board after the two girls received warnings from school staff.

Hatem asked the board to discontinue the policy until its legal validity could be addressed.

, having consulted legal opinion. The opinion read in public indicated that all restrictions found in the student dress code have been upheld in court.

In his memo, LaBranche detailed further aspects of a review and analysis of the code conducted by his administrative team.

He added that Windham Middle School and Windham Center School have reported less than 10 referrals resulting in verbal warning.

Golden Brook School's most challenging item to manage has been safe footwear.

According to the text of the JICA-R dress code policy, the appropriate dress standards are designed to promote the health and safety of all students.

The code was previously revised in 2005. LaBranche said last fall that the reason that students and staff worked to update the code was because the previous policy was even stricter.