SCHOOL DRESS CODES JUST GOT TRICKIER

Judges who recently ruled in favor of a student's right to wear a
controversial T-shirt to a Vermont public school acknowledged the
complexity of student free-speech issues in their opinion, comparing
the topic to unsettled waters "rife with rocky shoals and uncertain
currents."

The ruling upheld the right of Williamstown teenager Zachary Guiles
to attend school wearing a T-shirt that criticized President George
W. Bush as a "chicken hawk in chief" and alluded to alleged
substance abuse as a younger man with a picture of a martini glass
and cocaine.

Many schools prohibit clothing with images of alcohol or drugs,
regardless of the context. As administrators and students across
Vermont ponder the decision, some say it will make the murky waters
of student free speech more difficult to navigate.

Jeanne Collins, superintendent of Burlington schools, said she was
concerned about the implications of the decision. "If you look at a
T-shirt and you see martini glasses, you can't assume that your
average seventh-grader is going to see the political message," she said.

The decision could limit the ability of schools to maintain a safe
and nondisruptive environment, she said. "It adds one more layer of
expectation that is very gray."

Guiles, now 15, was 13 when the case started in 2004 after he bought
the shirt at a peace rally and wore it to Williamstown Middle/High
School. Another student complained, and administrators gave Guiles
three choices: Wear the shirt inside out, tape over the alcohol and
drug images or change clothes.

Guiles refused and was sent home. He eventually agreed to tape over
parts of the shirt and wore it to school with the words: "Censored."
His family then sued the school with assistance from the American
Civil Liberties Union Vermont chapter. A 2004 decision by federal
judge William Sessions III was mostly a victory for the school
district, upholding its right to censor the images of drugs and alcohol.

The family appealed. Last week a panel of judges on the 2nd U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled that the school had gone
too far, and concluded that the pictures were an important part of a
political and anti-drug message that Guiles had the right to express
in school. The ACLU called it a victory for student free speech.

'Small Price' To Pay

Timothy Guiles is Zach's father. By requiring the boy to tape over
the alcohol and drug images on the T-shirt, school administrators
were unfairly blunting the impact of the teen's political statement,
he said. He praised the ruling, even if it means
administrators have to spend more time studying the slogans and
images on student garb. If it means taking a "little bit of time
and effort to assess a shirt, that's a small price we pay for
democracy and freedom of speech in our country," Timothy Guiles said.

The decision could indeed mean administrators spend more time on
dress code issues, said Mary Woodruff, principal of Winooski Middle
School. "I think it opens the door for more challenges. How is the
symbol on my T-shirt, how is the language on my T-shirt truly interpreted?"

That said, Guiles clearly had a right to express his political
opinion, Woodruff said. She encourages students to debate political
issues in a respectful way.

"Sometimes they do passionately take sides, and that's a good thing,
I think. We want to teach kids to be involved and to be critical
about what candidates are saying, so I think those are good things
to encourage." Mixed feelings

What do students think? Students at Winooski middle and high school
Friday had mixed views. Some agreed with the Williamstown school's
position; others sided with Guiles. "I think they should have left
the images," said Amy Snow, a 15-year-old junior at Winooski High School.

Templin Moyer, a 17-year-old senior, wasn't so sure. "I think,
personally, the shirt does take it a little too far."

Even if the T-shirt meant to convey an anti-drug message, some
students might not understand that and view the images of alcohol
and drugs as promoting substances, some students said. For this
reason, the school was justified in asking the student to tape
over the images, said Kayla Ray, a 13-year-old eighth-grader.

"Even if I know what it is supposed to mean, people see it differently."

At their own school, they see the dress code enforced fairly often,
they said. Many of the infractions have to do with skimpy outfits
and suggestive wording on clothing, but enforcement is not always
consistent, they added.

"It varies a lot," said Grace Campbell, 17, a senior at Winooski.
"I've been sent home twice, actually, because my skirt was too
short. But I've seen people wearing things that are much more
revealing walk around all day at school."

It's the nature of some teenagers to test the dress code, she
suggested. "People our age are in it for the shock value, pretty much."