At one high school in Texas, parents can’t just roll out of bed in the morning to drop off their kids anymore.
James Madison High School in Houston has implemented a dress code targeted toward parents that has riled some people up.
Principal Carlotta Outley Brown wrote in a letter earlier this month to parents that they cannot enter school grounds while wearing pajamas or revealing clothing. The school is also prohibiting parents from wearing leggings, sagging pants, low-rider shorts, short dresses, and low-cut tops. Women can’t wear a satin cap, hair curlers, shower cap or bonnet on their heads.
James Madison High School will turn away parents if they show up at the school wearing bonnets, pajamas, hair rollers or leggings. https://t.co/oUM9MxAd9f
— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) April 23, 2019
The new policy was implemented “to prepare our children and let them know daily, the appropriate attire they are supposed to wear when entering a building, going somewhere, applying for a job, or visiting someone outside of the home setting,” Outley Brown said.
The guidelines follow reports that a mother was not allowed to enroll her daughter at Madison High School because she showed up wearing a T-shirt dress and a headscarf.
However, some parents don’t agree with the new rules.
DRESS CODE FOR PARENTS: The new dress code says parents wearing pajamas, hair rollers, shower caps, saggy pants and revealing clothing won’t be allowed on school grounds. TELL US: Do you think this is a good idea?https://t.co/0dDILdbMHR
— Fox 35 News (@Fox35News) April 24, 2019
Rosemary Young was handed a copy of the new parental dress code when she wore a satin cap to pick up her son from the school. She said she was in a hurry because her younger son had broken his arm earlier.
“It doesn’t matter how a parent should come,” Young told CNN affiliate KTRK. “If we come here belligerent, out of control, things of that nature, that’s what you have the police for, but what I wear should never be an issue. I’m not revealing. I’m not doing anything. I don’t have any weapons.”
Zeph Capo, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, also thinks the school went too far.
James Madison High School in Houston Texas clothes PARENTS shouldn’t wear 2 school:
Hair rollers
“Pajamas of any kind”
Leggings showing ur bottom where ur body isn’t covered from front or back”
“Sagging pants”
“Men wearing undershirts”
Daisy Dukes https://t.co/dF3E0XanNe— Becca Ramos⭐️ (@BeccaFromTX) April 24, 2019
“Having body parts exposed is one thing. Turning someone away because their hair’s in rollers … is a little ridiculous,” Capo told CNN. “This is an issue of a principal issuing a dictatorial edict rather than having a substantive conversation.”
Houston Independent School District declined to comment. Outley Brown did not respond to request for comment.