Just as adults dress appropriately for work, proper attire for students is more conducive to a positive educational experience.  We feel it is necessary to provide specific guidelines for students to follow and parents to support.  The Bates Elementary dress code is designed to do the following:

• Make certain all students are comfortable, safe, and ready to learn

• Teach students the value of dressing appropriately for different occasions

• Help students develop a sense of pride in their appearance

• Enable students to participate in all activities that they may encounter throughout the day

• Reduce distractions in the classroom for all students

To accomplish this, the following dress code rules apply:

Pants/Skirts/Shorts

• Shorts, skirts, and skorts must be fingertip-length or longer

• Pants must be worn at the waist

• No underwear is to be exposed

• Leggings, tights, or shorts must be worn under a skirt or dress

• Either a skirt, jumper, or dress may be worn over leggings OR shirts must cover & come to mid-thigh or longer

• Distressed jeans should contain no excessive fray, holes or rips.  No skin exposure above mid-thigh.  

Tops

• No bare shoulders

• No low-cut arm holes

• Midriffs must not be exposed

• No inappropriate messages or images are to be displayed on any clothing

• Sweaters and sweatshirts are acceptable for indoor wear

• No coats allowed during instructional time

• No crop tops

• No tank tops

• No revealing/low cut tops

Head Coverings

• Hats/Hoods are not to be worn in the school building unless: 

• a special Hat Day is declared

• for religious reasons

• for medical reasons

Jewelry/Makeup/Headbands/Tattoos

• Jewelry/Makeup/Tattoos for all students is strongly discouraged

• If jewelry/makeup/headbands are worn and are deemed unsafe or interfere in any way with classroom or school instruction, administration will ask a student to remove them.

Shoes

• No heels

• No sandals/flip-flops/open-toed/slides/crocs/croc like shoes

• No Heely-type shoes (shoes that have wheels in the soles)

• On physical education (PE) instruction days, athletic shoes must be worn

The above items are general guidelines, but this is not an exhaustive list of inappropriate clothing.  Therefore, administrators are the final decision-making authority in the enforcement and interpretation of the dress code.  School administration has final authority if clothing is deemed inappropriate, unsafe, or a distraction to instruction.