How to write a professional yet practical dress code for elementary teachers?

I need help writing a dress code for teachers at an elementary school. Last year, our dress code was pretty lax, but the rules that were there were not enforced, and toward the end of the year, there were parent complaints that some of the teachers were not dressing professionally enough to suit them. So, the principal has now made a VERY rigid dress code and we teachers are not allowed to wear any capri pants, no open toed shoes...pants are supposed to be regular length and have 1 inch of loose material around the thighs and buttocks, shoes must be closed toe but NOT tennis shoes, nothing sleeveless, nothing see-through.....I mean, some of this stuff is self-explanatory, like who would really wear low-cut tops or tight jeans to work with children, but this is ridiculous. We live in Florida, we teach 5-10 year olds, and we are expected to stand outside during mid-day on the playground with NO SHADE and supervise recess, we are expected to get down on the kids' level in 90 degree

How to write a professional yet practical dress code for elementary teachers?
I would express to my principal that I spend a lot of time on the floor, painting, and doing other messy things to wear some of the clothes you mentioned. Yes, its important to look nice but it is also important to be comfortable enough to do your job. Also, if you look too uppity, you can't really relate to some of your underprivledged students. Seems like a really dumb thing to worry about. After all we have important issues to think about with our kids.
Reply:The dress code in our district is to not wear anything that could be distracting to the professional work environment.


Our building principal has expressed to us that he doesn't like to see us in jeans or shorts. For the most part, people respect that.





We work with no A/C in our buildings (in the fall and spring, it can get into the 90s).





I can't imagine how your principal is going to measure for 1" of loose material around your colleagues' buttocks. That's insane. Can't you just speak with the camel-toed offenders directly?
Reply:This is another reasons why there are teachers unions. If your school district has one, any change in work conditions must be negotiated. I taught for 30+ years, none of my schools had a dress code for teachers. Maybe it was assumed teachers are mature/intelligent enough to know how to dress. There is also a chain of command... The parents should have spoken with the teachers they thought were inappropriately dressed before they went to the principal.



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