J.L. Long Middle School principal Danielle Petters told parents that DISD budget cuts have led her and her staff to make changes to the school’s dress code for the 2011-2012 school year. The two changes will help increase security without asking more of teachers, Petters states in a letter dated May 30.
First, students will wear collared shirts color-coordinated by grade level. Sixth-graders will wear white shirts. Seventh-graders will wear grey. And eighth-graders will wear navy blue. That will tell teachers at a glance whether a student is where he or she is supposed to be.
J.L. Long also is eliminating backpacks and book bags. That will make it more difficult for students to bring anything unauthorized into the school, Petters says. The letter states, “We … know that we must be cognizant of how many books we are expecting students to carry as well as how they use their lockers.”
The no-backpacks policy is one that will take some getting used to, but it could help students be more organized, says J.L. Long parent Vince Murchison.
“We sometimes find things in the bottom of the backpack that should’ve gone in the binder,” he says. “And then we don’t find it until two days before a project is due.”
Some parents have suggested that the color-coded shirts could cause some inter-grade-level bullying. But PTA president Stacey Stabenow says she thinks the change is more likely to foster grade-level pride.
“We trust Ms. Petters,” Stabenow says. “It’s a big school, and if she thinks something is a good idea, then we’re pretty much behind it.”
