2022-2023 DeSoto ISD Dress Code, No Uniforms Required

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DeSoto ISD attire text

DeSoto ISD Will Be Communicating Expectations About The 2022-2023 Dress Code

Back to school shopping creates a lot of anxiety for parents, students as well as teachers and administrators. There’s a lot happening behind the scenes for all parties involved from new policies, hiring staff, shopping for supplies and more. Every July as summer break winds down, parents look to their school district to find out what changes are made to the dress code. There was a lot of buzz this year about whether DeSoto ISD would require uniforms, but in the end, they decided against them.

DeSoto ISD reached out to parents and staff for feedback on the 2022-2023 dress code with in person and virtual meetings and an online survey. The majority of participants (68%) felt like a dress code was appropriate, but were opposed to uniforms (64%). Only 57% of participants support dress code enforcement.

The Dress Code committee made recommendations to the School Board based on their meetings and survey. They recommended “consistent enforcement” of the current dress code with some minor adjustment. In addition, they created and implemented a recommended standardized dress code.

At the July 25 DeSoto ISD Board Meeting, the Superintendent clarified some of the decisions regarding the dress code. As she reminded the audience, she came on-board on June 1 and had to consider the timeliness of any changes. She also pointed out that survey participants and committee members represented the high school more so than the elementary and middle school population. Before implementing a mandatory school uniform requirement, Dr. Rodgers wants more participation for a consensus.

Parents expressed concerns about the cost of uniforms, peer pressure, etc. Another concern the district wanted to address were comments about the professional appearance and attire of staff. For those reasons they created the recommended standardized attire for the 2022-2023 school year.

DeSoto ISD recommended standardized attire schedule:

Monday – Gold Day (Gold polo style shirt with khakis or jeans)

Tuesday – Green Day (Green polo-style shirt with khakis or jeans)

Wednesday – Professional Dress Day (Non-branded or District branded blazers, ties, cardigans and sweater vest)

Thursday – College and Career Day (ex. College or University spirit shirt with khakis or jeans)

Friday – DeSoto Spirit Day (District or campus spirit shirt with jeans or khakis)

Note: The above-listed recommended student dress days are not required dress for students per DeSoto ISD.

Dr. Rodgers noted, ““I will be revisiting this dress code as we have heard lots of feedback from lots of people. Hopefully since there was after action about what information came out hopefully as we put this information out to revisit for the next school year that we will have greater participation and we can have a definitive response one way or the other as it relates to our parents and community as it relates to student dress.”

Place 2 ISD Trustee Chasiti McKissic said during the dress code discussion she wanted to commend the district in being responsive to community’s concerns.

“I do appreciate the spin on it for someone like me who is consistent and structured will like to have some approach of some kind of spin on a uniform, so I appreciate that.”

She asked that students and administrators be held accountable for enforcing both the student code of conduct as well as the dress code “just to ensure we are sending a clear and consistent message across all campuses across all grade levels” McKissic said adding that will also minimize the disparity that parents have expressed when it comes to dress code.

Dr. Rodgers said “Yes, we will be working on consistent enforcement, and we will be communicating to parents the expectations around the dress code and making sure everyone is clear on that.”

The first day of school for the 2022-2023 school year will be Monday, August 15, 2022

You can find more Back to School information on DeSoto ISD’s website.

Rita Cook contributed to this article.