Back to School

Dave Weber

SANFORD — Seminole County schools’ tough new student dress code designed to make students look more “professional” already has its first exception: Cheerleaders will be allowed to wear short uniform skirts to class on game days, as has been tradition.

While some complain it is unfair, district officials have decided that the ban on short skirts on girls does not apply to cheerleaders.

The decision came after high school principals huddled at the start of football season and agreed to give cheerleaders an exemption to the new rules, which say “dresses, skirts and shorts must be at least mid-thigh or below in length” and nixes clothing that is “sexually suggestive.”

The rules also ban “garments that are distracting” – and spirit-building distraction is the intent of having the cheer squad wear outfits to school on game days.

“It is tradition that they wear their uniforms on game day, like the football players wear their uniform shirts,” said district spokeswoman Regina Klaers, a former cheerleader at Seminole High.

Klaers said the mother of a Lake Brantley High girl who was sent home for wearing a short skirt complained that cheerleaders were getting privileged treatment. But Klaers said the new dress code provides that principals make final decisions on what apparel meets the rules.

The School Board wrestled for a year over tougher dress standards for students, saying sharper dress would set an atmosphere for higher student achievement. School Board Chairman Sandy Robinson said she was striving for a “professional look,” but the final code fell short in many aspects, including allowing students to wear flip-flops on their feet.

Klaers said she was uncertain whether other exemptions to the code would be made, but anticipated some. For example, she said, schools sometimes have a “pajama day” to build school spirit. Pajamas are specifically banned as every day wear.

Other items such as chains linking pierced noses to pierced ears also are banned, as are dog collars worn as jewelry and T-shirts that promote sex, drugs, alcohol, tobacco or violence.

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