Socastee students protest dress code change

Some female students at Socastee High School think a revision in the school’s dress code went too far, but school officials say they exercised their right to make a change, to avoid having overly casual pants worn in class.

Two schoolwide announcements made at the school Wednesday told the students they could no longer wear yoga pants, and that the policy went into effect on Thursday, said Teal Britton, Horry County Schools spokesperson.

Eleventh-grader Michael-Ann Clarke, 17, said she doesn’t agree with the change because it hasn’t been in force all year, and she said she has now paid $150 on jeans so she will have something to wear.

Clarke said she was under the impression that dress-code changes have to be approved by the school district, but Britton said individual schools have the prerogative to add to the district’s dress code.

“The dress code that’s in the student handbook, which can be found online, is the minimum [requirement for a school dress code],” Britton said. “Any school can make that more expansive, just not less.”

Britton said over the last few months, a small number of students had been wearing form-fitting yoga pants to class, and school officials tried to deal with the situation on an individual basis. She said on Thursday, about 30 girls of the 800 who attend the school came wearing yoga pants and were put together in a separate room. By 10 a.m., she said only five remained, as the other girls had brought alternate clothing to wear.

Clarke and 10th-grader Chelsea Leung, 15, were two of the girls who wore yoga pants to school Thursday, despite the new rule.

“A whole bunch of girls just did it, and we all got in trouble,” said Leung, who also felt it was wrong to change the rules mid-year.

Leung said the students were given two choices, to sit in the classroom or have their parents bring them clothes. While Clarke stayed in the class for the day, Leung went home. She said both of her parents were out of town for the day, but she called her mother, who contacted a friend who could pick up Leung.

“My mom said that was fine. She understood where I was coming from,” Leung said.