It’s the night before school and you are picking out your outfit. You spend at least 15 minutes trying on clothes to find the perfect fit that makes you feel confident. You even wake up a few minutes early to make sure that everything is perfect, only to have your bubble bursted when you arrive at school. From multiple personal experiences, it is the most humiliating and embarrassing moment when your dean comes up to you and tells you that your clothing is too provocative.

But that isn’t the main problem that I am trying to get across. The problem isn’t with the dress code, but more of how inconsistent the deans are with enforcing it. As a freshman, I would constantly see upperclassmen around school wearing clothing that I thought was allowed, only to find out the hard way that it is not. So why is it that some students get dress coded for wearing clothing that other students can wear without getting penalized? It’s not because of special treatment or “favorites.” It’s about poor communication among the deans.

Deans are in charge of enforcing the laws of Metea Valley, deciding punishments for rules that have been broken, and teaching behavior among the students of the class they are responsible for. They lay out expectations for students so that they can be successful in and out of high school. Deans work hard to keep the students, staff, and guests safe while they are at Metea Valley.

Each class has a different dean that follows them throughout their high school career, getting to know each and every student during that time. It’s obvious that because each dean is different, they are going to have different styles of teaching and enforcing the rules. One dean might be more strict on making sure students have a pass while in the hallway and another might be more hard on dress coding students. My question is how is that fair to the students? For one class to get away with doing something and the other class to be punished for that same act is not only unfair to the students, but it also causes confusion on what is actually allowed.

As a freshman last year, I looked up to the upperclassmen for guidance on what is right and wrong. If I saw a senior using the vending machines during lunch, I automatically assumed that I was allowed to do so as well. If I saw a junior wearing an off the shoulder top or having their midriff exposed, I immediately believed that it was ok for me too, only to find out by getting dresscoded that it is not allowed. I was confused and upset as to why I was being called out when I repeatedly saw other students wearing identical items as me. To be fair, maybe I was violating the dress code, but so was the senior I saw the other day, so why was I getting talked to and the other students I saw were left unbothered.

This is because of the inconsistency among the deans. I had a chance to talk with Dean Klappauf on why this was happening. He mentioned that he doesn’t stop girls very often because that’s not usually what he is looking for when he is in the halls. “If multiple teachers bring it to my attention then I might ask the student to come down to my office to talk about the situation, rather than embarrass her in front of her peers, but I wouldn’t say I stop girls in the halls very often.”

Immediately after this was said I could see the inconsistency. From experience, I can say confidently that Dean Rowe has no difficulty stopping someone in the halls in front of their fellow classmates to tell them that what they are wearing is inappropriate. This could be because their teaching styles differ greatly, but that is still no excuse for why their approaches to situations are drastically different.

I was also informed that all of the deans and assistant principal, Ms. Maloney, sit down and talk about this very issue. During these meetings, they should touch on the topic of how each dean goes about communicating or enforcing these laws. It creates confusion when some students have to be embarrassed in the halls and others get to to talk about the situation in privacy. The deans need to come together and agree all together on how things should be handled.

The girls of class 2019 are able to get away with wearing things that the girls of class 2020 are penalized for.

If we are going from a male’s perspective, it is not fair towards them either.  Dean Walpole said that he “typically would dress code a male student more often if he see’s them in the hall.” For the guys in the class of 2019, they are out of luck. They get punished more often than not for wearing things that males from the class of 2017 can wear and get away with.

School is supposed to be an equal learning environment, and for other students to be able to get away with things that other students get scolded for doing is not equal whatsoever. Dress code is just one of the many issues that we have where the deans show inconsistency. I am not trying to bash the dress code, or make it seem like its the deans are the bad guys by dress coding us. I am just trying to make it clear that the way the deans go about disciplining students needs to start being more consistent. In order for Metea to be united, we have to be treated equally amongst the grade levels. Deans need to start touching on the topic of consistency during the meetings they have, so that we, the students of Metea Valley Highschool,  don’t have to suffer confusion on what’s allowed and what’s not.