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Title:
Court Refuses Dress Code Challenge from Student With Too Much Time (and Vanity) on Her Hands
Author:
ID:
LL121
Issue:
SU2-1
Issue Date:
2005-01-01
Edition:
School
Type:
Article
Body:
In Blau v. Fort Thomas Public School District, 2005 FED App, 0058P (6th Cir. 2005), student Amanda Blau challenged the school districtís dress code for middle school students. The dress code was instituted at the request of parents. Prior to implementing the dress code the school formed a committee to make recommendations. Amanda was one of four students on the committee. The committee took surveys from teachers, students and parents before making its recommendations. Fort Thomas Schools adopted the dress code in 2001.
Amanda Blau and her dad filed suit against the school district alleging that the code violated Amandaís First Amendment right to free expression. Amanda indicated through testimony that she wanted to wear clothes that ìlook nice on herî and that she ìfeels good inî and that expressed her individuality. In reviewing the law relating to student dress codes, the court noted that previous decisions had rejected studentsí First Amendment claims in cases where the student wanted to wear clothing that displayed a particular message, where that message was disruptive to the learning process or inconsistent with the basic educational mission of the school. In this case, Amanda did not wish to express any particular message but was instead claiming protection to look good. The court noted that the First Amendment does not protect conduct, but protects expression. In looking at the schoolís interest in having a dress code, the court outlined the schoolís stated reasons for the code. ìThe dress codeís stated purpose is to ëcreate unity, strengthen school spirit and pride, and focus attention on learning and away from distractions,í ÖAnd in promulgating the dress code based on experience of other school districts with similar regulations, school officials thought that the regulation would ëenhance school safety, improve the learning environment, promote good behavior, reduce discipline problems, improve test scores, improve childrenís self-respect and self-esteem, bridge socio-economic differences between families, help eliminate stereotypes and produce a cost savings for families.î The court concluded that Amanda had no First Amendment protection from compliance with the dress code. It should be noted that courts are consistently upholding these dress codes where the school sets forth reasons, such as those stated above, in support of these codes.
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