THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 16, 1995 TAG: 9503140049
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY MONIQUE WILLIAMS
CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 190 lines
When Pamela Riddick, principal of Ruffner Middle School, raised the idea of a teachers and students dress code to her school, she didn't know that her own wardrobe should have included a bullet-proof vest.
Shots came from everywhere.
It was too rigid. It was racist. It took one's freedom away. It was expensive ...
Riddick, however, remains unfeathered by the criticism, guided by a vision that, she says, has little to do with style and a lot to do with substance.
Specifically, what the dress code calls for is for teachers to wear career clothing that consists of suits or suitlike ensembles. Students would wear uniforms, most likely white shirts and blue pants for the boys and ``skorts'' - a combination skirt-short - and white blouses for the girls.
``We have become lax about the way we present ourselves to our public,'' Riddick says, ``but we are in the '90s, and there is a wave of conservatism that's sweeping the country . . . it's back to reality.''
The reality Riddick is speaking of is a world where kids lack positive images at home or in school, and kids who find their role models on MTV, in popular culture or in sports heroes who are - all too often - fallible.
In Riddick's world, teachers would become, again, beacons responsible for the awesome task of molding the next generation - kids who are starved for moral guidance and inspiration.
Her vision is of a world where teachers and parents get their due respect and where civility, class and tolerance reign.
Unrealistic? Perhaps. Old-fashioned? Perhaps. But she is determined to make a difference in her school of 75 teachers and 1,000 students.
Change, never easy to put into effect, had to come from the top, she said. Before she could ask her students to dress appropriately, she had to ask her teachers to lead by example. To earn respect, one must look respectable.
``I am not trying to make a fashion statement,'' she says. ``Our children come first. . . . We cannot say, `Do as I say and not as I do.' ''
Scott Sprull, a teacher at Ruffner, says he believes that when it comes to professional presence, teachers rank somewhere at the bottom of the professional ladder. He would like to see male teachers wear a sportcoat and a tie every day.
``Schools aren't just a big learning place,'' he says. ``They are also a big social place. When I wear a suit and a tie or a sportcoat, kids notice, and they do respond.''
Janet Duff, principal at King's Grant Elementary in Virginia Beach, supports Riddick's position.
``I admire Riddick for the way she's gone about this,'' Duff says. ``Each school needs to evaluate their situation and do what's in the best interest of the kids.''
To that end, Riddick hired a Virginia Beach image consultant who held workshops for teachers to advise them on appropriate dress and social etiquette and later helped draft a dress code. In a three-hour meeting, teachers voted item-by-item on the detailed, eight-page code.
Riddick's view is that teachers should not be immune to the sartorial dictates to which corporate America must conform. Written or unwritten, dress codes in the business world attest that corporate America is not a democracy.
Although some loosening of the rules has occurred in the last few years, traditional clothing like suit and tie for men and suitlike ensembles for women continue to be de rigueur.
Dress codes, however, are not restricted to Fortune 500 board rooms. McDonald's, Revco and HQ, for example, all have employee dress codes. The Virginia Beach school system has one, too - a one-liner that leaves much to personal interpretation. It says that teachers must dress appropriately to the occasion and that extreme or ostentatious apparel or appearance is to be avoided.
Dressing appropriately or tastefully, as everyone knows, can be a judgment call. What may seem appropriate to one can be totally inappropriate to another.
The dress code at Ruffner spells out - clearly - what's suitable and what's not.
What this means to teachers is that they should dress like professionals. It means that jeans, leggings, fleeces, sneakers, sandals, clinging or revealing clothes, and trendy or flashy clothes are inappropriate.
The desired effect, Riddick said, is a tailored and put-together look that commands respect. It is a look found in offices across America. Clerks who make $6 an hour wear it, and powerful CEO's who make $600 an hour wear it.
The look consists of suits, sportcoats, tailored pants, dress shirts and ties for men, and suits and jackets or vests, pants, skirts or dresses for women with pantyhose and closed-toe shoes.
A start-up basic wardrobe for both men and women consists of two suits (two jackets with two skirts or pants), five blouses or shirts and two neck accessories.
In the image-management workshops, teachers received pointers on how to be an effective shopper and where to find career dressing for less than retail prices.
Cost is an issue that concerns many teachers. A good suit is at least $150 even if purchased in a moderate department store. Quality blouses that last are not inexpensive. Dry-cleaning, too, is a concern.
None of this bothers Victoria Whipple, a teacher's aide at King's Grant Elementary School in Virginia Beach who earns less than a teacher but who dresses up for school every day.
``They're just gonna have to hit the sales,'' Whipple says.
Gloria Coles, a teacher at Ruffner who helped draft the code, says that cost should not be an issue.
``If I have $30 to buy a blouse,'' she says, ``I can choose to dress appropriately or inappropriately.
``Dressing professionally doesn't mean dressing expensively.''
Frances Crespo, a traveling teacher in Virginia Beach, agrees that something needs to be done about teachers' dressing habits but disagrees on the need to wear suits or suitlike ensembles.
``Let's be realistic,'' she says. ``Teachers are not corporate.
``My clothes need to be comfortable because I move all day. I walk around all day in the classroom, and I don't want to wear a pantyhose all day.''
Crespo says that many schools are not air-conditioned (Ruffner is) and that wearing hose and a third layer like a vest or jacket in the middle of June may be intolerable.
Riddick says that her dress code is ``user-friendly'' and that as fashion changes and needs change, the code will be modified to accommodate those variations.
Although she has been challenged by leaders of the city's two teachers' groups, many have applauded her courage and supported her efforts to restore discipline and respect in the classroom.
``This,'' says Scott Sprull, a teacher at Ruffner, ``will make Ruffner shine.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
[Cover]
THE RUFFNER LOOK
GOOD
BAD
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff photos
[Color Photos]
ALL MODELS' CLOTHES COURTESY OF HECHT'S, LYNNHAVEN MALL, VIRGINIA
BEACH
List of DO'S
Women
Suit or suitlike ensemble (a third layer must always be worn)
Conservative career-style blouses, tops, skirts, pants, vests,
sweaters, jackets and dresses.
Conservative style hosiery at all times
Conservative career-style shoes at all times
Conservative accessories
Choose conservative fabrics and colors that project authority
(gray, brown, navy).
Men
Suit or suitlike ensemble or sportcoat with shirt and tie
Dress slacks
Vests
Conservative dress shirts
Crew-neck, V-neck over shirt and tie
Polo or turtle neck with sportcoat (a third layer always
required)
List of DON'TS
Women
No jeans or leggings
No clinging or sloppy/loose styles
No beachwear, no evening wear
No denim, lace, transparent, glitzy, Lycra or stretched fabrics
No textured or heavily studded clothing
No large prints or bright, contrasting prints
No clothing that reveals anatomy
No cleavage
No mini-anything (skirts and dresses 2-3 inches above knee)
No backless or sleeveless styles without jacket
No sandals, sneakers, thongs or mules
No more than two rings per hand
No ``claw'' nails or exotic nail polish
No bulky, dangling earrings
No more than two bracelets per wrist
No fadish makeup
No exotic hairstyles or exotic accessories
No chewing gum
Men
No jeans, fleeces or sloppy styles
No tennis shoes
No tight-fitting styles across abdomen
No tight-fitting trousers in the seat
No trousers that are too short
No hair beyond collar unless bound; facial hair must be neat and
trim
No dreadlocks, Mohawks or excessive volume
No more than two rings per hand
No accessories that cause distractions or controversy
No chewing gum
by CNB