Discussion Board #1

1. Case 12, pg. 367, Dress Code Violated, ISLLC: 7- Communities of Engagement for
Families, 8- Operations and Management, 9- Ethical Principles and Professional Norms
2. There are four students in my office for the offense of violating the school dress code.
They are violating the student and faculty approved dress code due to their religious
practice. If the situation is not handled properly, I could be accused of having a
religiously intolerant dress code policy.
3. The main problem in the foreground of my mind is the fact that if I do not handle this
situation properly, the students parents could easily bring negative media coverage to my
school. According to ISLLC Standard VII (2014), we are to promote academic success
and well-being of every student. By creating policies that do not take cultural diversity
into consideration, my school has challenged several students' religious beliefs.
Incidentally, this is hindering their academic success. These students are missing
important classroom instruction because they are in the office for a dress code violation.
4. As a principal, ISLLC Standard IX (2014) states that I should safeguard democracy,
individual liberty, justice, and democracy. While investigating the court case Tinker v.
Des Moines Independent School District, Ramey (2011) ascertains that it is
unconstitutional to suppress students freedom of speech and expression. Ramey (2011)
also states the only way a school leader could legally preclude this legislative standing is
if the expressions causes a disruption in the school environment or intrudes on other
students rights. With the information given to me, I can deduce that these students are
not causing a direct disruption in their classes and they are not diminishing other
students rights.

In order to keep this incident in the school building, I would

immediately contact the students parents and call for a meeting to explain the situation
in-depth and exemplify that our school is religiously intolerant. I would support the

teachers involved, letting the parents know that the teachers were following written
policy. The parents would be assured that this would not ever be an issue again. I would
then call for a faculty review of the dress code policy and redraft it. The whole purpose of
a school dress code policy is to ensure that student and staff appearance does not in any
way take away from a positive school culture, obstruct a safe school environment, or
cause a disruption in the learning process. The current policy has caused a disruption in
two of these aspects. When developing rules and policies, one should take into account a
broad spectrum of diversity and views. Ubben, Hughes, and Norris (2016) state that all
policies created should be reasonable in order to maintain a proper educational climate.
Haynes, Chaltain, Ferguson (2003) suggest that the inclusion of an opt-out provision for
religious beliefs would be effective in an incident such as the current. After the faculty
review and my approval of the newly drafted dress code, I would present the newlydrafted policy to the faculty and staff during a meeting. Lastly, I would explain to my
classroom teachers the importance of student instruction time. ISLLC Standard VIII
(2014) states that we should manage student behavior with a focus on learning. Sending
a student to the office is for a dress code violation is not learning centered. Students with
a legitimate dress code violation should be removed from the classroom if their
appearance or attire is disruptive. If the students are waiting in the office, they are
missing instruction time that cannot be replaced. Students should be removed from a
class only if they are causing a direct disruption to the learning process. Observing the
previous incident, I can make the assumption that there are many more cases where
students are being sent to my office for small offenses and are missing hours of classroom
time collectively.

5. I would evaluate my success by observing both teacher and students actions to the newly
drafted dress code policy. I would also have the faculty advisory group to create and
distribute a voluntary survey to the community. The documented results would be used
for input on later revisions of the dress code policy.
References
Haynes, C. C., Chaltain, S., & Ferguson, J. E., Hudson, D.L., Thomas, O. (2003). First
Amendment in Schools, The Alexandria, VA, USA: Association for Supervision &
Curriculum Development (ASCD). Retrieved from
http://0-www.ebrary.com.library.acaweb.org
Ramey, R. C. (2011). Wearing Tinkers Armband. Student First Amendment Speech and
Expression Rights: Armbands to Bong HiTS (pp. 11-19). Retrieved from http://0www.ebrary.com.library.acaweb.org
Ubben, G., Hughes, H., & Norris, C. (2016). The Principal: Creative Leadership for Excellence
in Schools. Upper Saddle River, N.J. Pearson Education, Inc.