The Lynn School Committee has decided to allow middle and high school students to wear shorts year around.
However the mayor said students in Lynn’s public schools must make sure of their appropriateness.
The committee discussed the possibilities for about three hours before rendering its decision.
The decision comes on the heels of situations that occurred at Lynn Classical High School recently when two dozen Classical students were sent home to change out of their shorts, with one of the students being suspended.
Longtime School Committeeman John Ford said he favored a bit more discipline, insisting that in just a few years, many of the graduating seniors would be going into the armed forces of into the private sector where they would be required to follow dress codes, rules and regulations.
“I think we ought to hold the line,” he said.
Whatever members expressed, the changing of the dress code to allow shorts shows how slowly change comes inside large, public institutions.
Lynn’s public school dress codes, frankly, are all over the place, officials said.
Lynn Classical student officials said there should be more collaboration and asked for more input before an entirely new dress code is considered.
There was also a great deal of talk about season appropriate clothes and that any dress code worth merit would not be attached to such a narrow seasonal matrix.
All parties involved in this discussion seemed to agree: the dress code is not about the changing of the seasons and students’ response to the weather.
Rather, the dress code should be all about appropriateness, is what was finally agreed upon.
A Policy Sub-Committee will be formed and is to be composed of students, parents, school administrators in order to create the ultimate, correct dress code.