Dress code has always been a controversial topic among the Freedom High School student body, but it has become even more divisive in recent weeks with the announcement of stricter enforcement by the administration. The crackdown on running shorts has seemingly caused the most commotion among the student population.

“Running shorts are not in violation of dress code as long as they are finger-tip length,” Principal Kevin Stephenson said. “They are not the best attire for school, but we will allow them as long as they are the appropriate length.”

Enforcing the dress code is always a difficult task, as there are so few administrators and so many students, but Mr. Stephenson is using “dress code lockouts” to help weed out violators. “Dress code lockouts” are when the administration makes an announcement over the PA system asking teachers to send out any students who are out of dress code.

“It [the lockouts] seems to be very effective,” Mr. Stephenson said. “Last week we caught about twenty students who were out of dress code. That is a really small number compared to the population, so I’d like to think that the students are starting to comply with the rules.”

Another issue that caused a lot of complaints on campus is the enforcement of dress code at sporting events.

“We’re not enacting normal school dress code, but we are looking to eradicate a couple things, especially at the football games. First, we’d like to see the guys wearing shirts. I know some guys like to come shirtless and paint their chests, but I don’t want to see that,” Stephenson said. “Also, we’d like to see the girls wearing more than just a sports bra. I’d prefer them to come with at least a tank top or something covering over it.”

Stephenson said that he isn’t worried as much about finger-tip length shorts at the football games, but he definitely wants to enforce the shirt rules. He also made the point that these policies were made with complaints received by parents at the football games in mind.

“I hate to have to put so much focus on the dress code because I feel it takes away from learning, but I want to create an atmosphere in which everyone is focused and has an opportunity to learn,” Stephenson said.

Among the most common dress code violations at Freedom, according to Stephenson, are girls whose shorts are too short and guys whose pants are sagging.

“The fellow administrators and I always joke around with each other about the dress code. How do you think the students would feel if we showed up at school wearing super-short shorts one day? Me, Ms. Russi, Ms. Graff, Mr. Williams, and Mr. Smith all prancing around campus with our shorts way too short. Maybe then the students will understand where we’re coming from,” Stephenson said.

If he had to provide one piece of advice to students when dressing for school, “Always double-check. It takes literally no time just to drop your arms to the side and make sure that you are in compliance. If everyone did that before they arrived on campus, it would save us a lot of time.”

One rumor that turned out to be false is the dress code at Homecoming. Stephenson insisted, “As long as students know that they need to dress formally and not have anything hanging or falling out, then there will be no problem.”