Pubdate: Sun, 03 Sep 2006 Source: Burlington Free Press (VT) Copyright: 2006 Burlington Free Press Contact: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/632 Author: Molly Walsh, Free Press Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) 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." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman