MANY LANCERS spend their morning choosing their perfect outfit for the day. They dress in their coolest outfits and trendy styles so they can come to school and look fabulous, but Lancers must also take the dress code into consideration. Well, most students do, and they walk around with no grief from anyone. Even with rules established in the student handbook, the interpretation of the dress code varies depending on who is reading the rules: administrators or teachers or students.

Morgan Tagge (12) was in this situation. In early September, she was instructed to change her shirt. It was a tank top she wore that she claims was not against school requirements. “It was a three-finger tank top. Something that is allowed.” she said.

This came up during a pressroom visit by Dr. Dunn and Mr. Beck. “That’s hard because you start getting into the details, is it one inch? Is it four inches? Is it three inches? So it’s really hard,” Dr. Dunn, Granger’s principal, said. But, according to the student handbook, the only specific strap rule is no spaghetti strap type tank tops. It seems unfair that Tagge was dress-coded for wearing something allowed according to the student handbook. Many students agree.

Luciano Lopez (11) is an outgoing Lancer dancer who got creative last May. On a normal day of school, he decided to challenge the dress code by wearing short shorts and a ripped t-shirt with a spaghetti strap sports bra underneath. Throughout that day only one teacher said something about his choice of clothing but he was not dress-coded for it.

“It feels like teachers are on the lookout to dress-code girls,” Lopez said, after his experiment with the dress code.

Hailey Koopman (12) agrees with Lopez and she feels that what he did was a good thing, and it proved a point. “If a girl dressed how Luciano did, she would be dress-coded, but if it were a boy, he wouldn’t,” she said.

Both Koopman and Lopez both brought up the controversy of tank tops and shoulders. Lopez doesn’t believe showing too much shoulder should be an issue. “Guys have shoulders, too,” he said

And fewer boys are dress-coded for showing shoulders. “I understand why stomachs should be covered but shoulders? Really?” Koopman said.

As Dr. Dunn spoke to the newspaper staff, he mentioned appropriate dress in the workplace. “If you ever go into a professional environment, if you go to an attorney’s office, if you go to a doctor’s office, if you go a business, you are going to see people dressed professionally,” he said.

Taking everything into consideration, the administration wants Lancers to know is they are trying to keep our school a professional environment. We may be nearing the end of the heat for the year, but whether it is this week or in the weeks to come, remember to follow the dress code. Visit Grangers website for a copy of the handbook, and make sure your fabulous outfits don’t go against code. Stay classy Lancers.