Two Aurora Central High School students, leave school for the day, Aug. 22, wearing clothing that falls in line with the new dress code. Aurora Central is enforcing a new dress code policy this school year as part of the work Aurora Public Schools is putting into place to improve the schools performance. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Aurora Sentinel 
Aurora Central High School Photo by Philip B. Poston/Aurora Sentinel
AURORA | One-size dress code at Aurora Central High School doesn’t fit all. Yet.
Central is a couple weeks into the new school year and a new student dress code. School leaders said the results have been positive for a majority of students and parents. But some students and families see the strict roll out of the new code as being too heavy handed.
Central High Principal Gerardo De La Garza said the vast majority of students have acclimated to the new rules without issue and the school has seen a positive change since the new dress code was implemented at the start of this school year.
“I think it’s been going great from day one. The majority of students have been in compliance with our dress code policy. And we as a staff, and as a school community, are excited about the positive impact it’s having on our school,” De La Garza said. “We see more students having school spirit and wearing the school attire, students getting to school and class on time. And we haven’t had other dress code issues like in past with students wearing inappropriate clothing.This has already been a positive impact for us.”
De La Garza said the idea for a dress code came from parent meetings with school administrators at the beginning of this calendar year. Central is currently on the state’s turnaround clock and the dress code is only one of the many changes that’s been implemented in an attempt to raise the school’s performance.
Aurora Public School administrations aid there are no plans or discussions to implement a district-wide dress code policy.
The new code limits the color of shirts worn by students to white, grey, black or dark green. For shirts with logos or graphics that aren’t from Aurora Central, the size of the graphics must be limited to 2×2 inches.
While a majority of students have been in compliance, others have had issues with the new dress code including confusion about what is and isn’t allowed under the new rules. De La Garza said information was shared with parents and students over the summer. But some students said the new rules weren’t communicated clearly and don’t make sense.
Joiri Kennedy, 17, is a senior at Central and said she thinks the new rules amount to school uniforms because of how the school enforced the new rules. She said kids have been pulled out of class and going between classes for being out of code and told to either change there or go back home to change clothes.
Kennedy said she had been told on the second week of school to go home and change because she was out of compliance for wearing a gold sweater. Given that one of the school colors is gold, and is one of the colors on student ID’s, Kennedy said she thought that would be included in the new rules. When she took the sweater off, because her shirt had straps, she was told to have a parent bring her new clothes or go home and change.
“I literally thought it was school appropriate. I wasn’t trying to protest or be disrespectful,” Kennedy said. “I was dressed like that the whole day. I was pulled out as I was walking into my third period class. I have six classes and I missed the rest of them (that day).”
Zyanne Bradley, 17, is also a senior at Central and was pulled aside because she was out of dress code. Bradley said she was wearing a jacket that had some pink in it and was told it was out of dress code. When she took the jacket off, she was told she still was out of dress code because her black shirt didn’t have a collar.
“I didn’t know we couldn’t wear plain black shirts until today. They say it’s a dress code but I think it’s a uniform,” Bradley said. “ I understood about the jacket because it had a little pink, I was just cold so that’s why I had it on. I honestly thought the shirt was in compliance because it was just plain and black.”
De La Garza said while administrators have pulled kids aside and into the office for being out of dress code, the school hasn’t sent anyone home for being out of compliance. Instead, the school gives them the choice of having a parent being them clothes that are in compliance, to buy a Central High logo shirt from school, or use a Central High logo shirt for the day.
“(Leaving school for the day) is not even presented to students as a choice. That’s a choice students make for themselves after everything else has been provided for them and the options that we spell out,” De La Garza said. “If a student contacts their parents and they make that choice, that’s the choice the student and parent are making. We encourage them to stay in school and class that day.”
De La Garza said the administration decided to enforce the dress code strictly from the first day of school as opposed to give a grace period for the new rules to become established.
“We understand it will take some time that this change is going to take a while to get adjusted,” De La Garza said. “But we’re excited about the majority of students being in compliance with the dress code policy and the positive impact it’s having.”