ARTICLE TOOLS

E-mail story

Comments

Printer friendly version

iPod friendly version

Share This

Text Size: A A A A

Hamilton County: Howard students dress for distinction

By: Kelli Gauthier
(Contact)

Included in this article

Brandon Marshall & Sheneaka Wood

This year it’s easy to spot students from Howard School of Academics — they’re arguably the best-dressed students in Hamilton County.

In an effort to further distinguish his high school students from visitors to the campus, Howard Executive Principal Paul Smith decided to require all students to wear dress pants, white button-down shirts and ties.

Last year’s dress code of polo shirts and khaki pants looked too similar to what people wear “on the streets,” he said, and sometimes it was hard to tell who belonged in the building and who did not.

And dressing up helps students take school more seriously, he said.

“We just decided to raise the bar this year,” said Dr. Smith, who walks around his building most days in a full suit with a paisley tie and matching pocket handkerchief. “The level of pride has been raised.”

Most Hamilton County schools have a dress code, often polo shirts in school colors, but Howard is the only school requiring button-down shirts and ties, according to school spokeswoman Danielle Clark.

When Area II Superintendent James Colbert heard about Dr. Smith’s idea last year, he drove over to Howard, located on South Market Street, to question the principal about his plans.

“I thought he was crazy,” he said. “I’m impressed, though. It was very courageous of Paul to do.”

Students initially complained about their dressier school clothes, but recently have started to accept it, Associate Principal Faye Ison said.

“We equate it to them with dressing up for the workplace,” she said.

In fact, some students say they enjoy wearing the white button-downs and coordinating their ties with shoes and jewelry. Girls must wear ties as well, but also can choose to tie a ribbon around the collar of their shirt.

“I love it. I love fashion,” said senior Sheneaka Woods, who on Thursday wore a brown vest over her white shirt, along with a thick black belt and matching pants, flats and earrings. “It’s a whole new look for Howard. It makes me feel like I’m intelligent.”

The new look makes everyone on campus hold their head a little higher, the 17-year-old said.

“You’ve got to present yourself now,” she said. “I like everyone’s swagger.”

Her classmate, Brandan Marshall, 18, said he hopes people will start paying attention to his school for reasons other than the guns on campus and low academic performance that put Howard in the headlines last year.

“Howard is always overshadowed by drama,” he said, adjusting his black bow tie. “Now when we step out on field trips and stuff, it makes us look so much better.”

Teachers say they most often hear students complain about the higher price of this year’s dress code, and that the shirts and ties are more restricting and uncomfortable. School administrators made an agreement with the owners of several M&J Shoes stores to special order plenty of lower-cost dress-code-appropriate clothes, including $7 ties, Dr. Smith said.

Students in Bonita Traughber’s chemistry class have learned to loosen their ties a little in order to be a bit more comfortable, she said. Some are even learning to tie a tie for the first time.

“I think they like dressing up,” she said. “Some have even inquired about wearing a suit like Dr. Smith does.”

Since the new rules went into affect just this year, students who show up to school out of dress code often are given one of the extra shirts or ties that administrators keep on hand, they say. Habitual offenders, however, are subject to in-school suspensions.

The dress code changed this year, too, at Howard Middle School — also under Dr. Smith’s charge — with the younger students adopting last year’s high school uniform: a maroon, gold, gray or white polo shirt and khaki pants. Next year, the middle schoolers also will wear button-downs and ties, but their shirts will be blue, Dr. Smith said.

Comments