New dress code for TVDSB schools to focus on personal expression, anti-oppression

The Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) is drafting a system-wide dress code that will focus less on policing students' self-expression and personal choice and more on equity and inclusively. 

Schools in London, St. Thomas, Woodstock, and the surrounding Elgin, Oxford and Middlesex counties currently draft their own dress codes; many of which haven't been updated in years. But the school board now says it recognizes that dress codes are "written and enforced in ways that disproportionately and negatively" impact girls, students of colour and members of the LGBTQ2+ community. 

"The other day, I got sent to the office, and they threatened to suspend me. I was wearing shorts that went almost down to my knees. They told me it was distracting," said Maddie Grann, a student at Beal Secondary School.

"I'm not going to change what I'm wearing because what people wear, it's like an expression of themselves. If they don't like who I am, then I won't go to their school."

Students have been speaking out about the dress codes focusing more on "length and width" rather than creative expression, targeting cultural appropriation, or profanity on clothing, said Savrup Saran, a Grade 11 student at Woodstock Collegiate Institute and a student trustee with the school board. 

"I would say that they target a lot of female-identifying students or members of the BIPOC community; those are the students who have been reaching out and telling us they've been singled out. Developing a universal dress code is one step to fixing that and letting students feel more comfortable in what they wear and how they express themselves in clothing."

At Wilfrid Jury Public School in London's northwest, the dress code includes prohibitions on clothing with inappropriate language, pictures and symbols but also emphasizes that any top that "knowingly shows cleavage, a bare back, or is transparent" is prohibited, that "shoulder straps should be a minimum of one inch wide" and that "bra straps must not be visible."

Bare midriffs are not permitted "and must stay covered with normal, reasonable movement," and shorts and skirts must be "a reasonable length."

Saran said such orders are out of date and don't acknowledge that they mainly single out clothing that would be worn by girls.

"I don't think in any era, the width or the length of clothes should be something that should be part of the dress code. Personally, I believe that students should be free to wear what they want as long as it's deemed appropriate. Students should be allowed to express themselves in the way that they like." 

'Let us be'

Saran's sentiment was echoed by students CBC News spoke to at Beal Secondary School. 

"I feel like students should be able to express themselves by their clothing without getting in trouble for it," said Murdoch McClaggen.

A universal dress code would be good as long as it's not too restrictive, said his friend, Lucas Wheatley. 

"The school says there's no dress code or restrictions unless there are hateful messages, unless a teacher sees it and doesn't like it," said Maddie Grann. "As long as there are no hateful messages on the clothes, we should be able to wear what we want. If they just let us be, then everything would just be fine." 

According to the TVDSB, the new dress code will be written to "ensure a safe school environment, free of systems of oppression, and not to police a student's individual expression or personal choice."

The board adds it will be developed "based on the principles of an anti-oppressive, non-discriminatory, equitable and inclusive education that recognizes that decisions about dress reflect an individual expression of identity, sociocultural norms, and economic factors and are personal and important facts to a person's health and well-being." 

Students will also have a say in the dress code, which is expected to be released in December.