Section 35183 Of Article 4.7. Miscellaneous Administrative Authority From California Education Code >> Division 3. >> Title 2. >> Part 21. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 4.7.
35183
. (a) The Legislature finds and declares each of the
following:
(1) The children of this state have the right to an effective
public school education. Both students and staff of the primary,
elementary, junior and senior high school campuses have the
constitutional right to be safe and secure in their persons at
school. However, children in many of our public schools are forced to
focus on the threat of violence and the messages of violence
contained in many aspects of our society, particularly reflected in
gang regalia that disrupts the learning environment.
(2) "Gang-related apparel" is hazardous to the health and safety
of the school environment.
(3) Instructing teachers and administrators on the subtleties of
identifying constantly changing gang regalia and gang affiliation
takes an increasing amount of time away from educating our children.
(4) Weapons, including firearms and knives, have become common
place upon even our elementary school campuses. Students often
conceal weapons by wearing clothing, such as jumpsuits and overcoats,
and by carrying large bags.
(5) The adoption of a schoolwide uniform policy is a reasonable
way to provide some protection for students. A required uniform may
protect students from being associated with any particular gang.
Moreover, by requiring schoolwide uniforms teachers and
administrators may not need to occupy as much of their time learning
the subtleties of gang regalia.
(6) To control the environment in public schools to facilitate and
maintain an effective learning environment and to keep the focus of
the classroom on learning and not personal safety, schools need the
authorization to implement uniform clothing requirements for our
public school children.
(7) Many educators believe that school dress significantly
influences pupil behavior. This influence is evident on school
dressup days and color days. Schools that have adopted school
uniforms experience a "coming together feeling," greater school
pride, and better behavior in and out of the classroom.
(b) The governing board of any school district may adopt or
rescind a reasonable dress code policy that requires pupils to wear a
schoolwide uniform or prohibits pupils from wearing "gang-related
apparel" if the governing board of the school district approves a
plan that may be initiated by an individual school's principal,
staff, and parents and determines that the policy is necessary for
the health and safety of the school environment. Individual schools
may include the reasonable dress code policy as part of its school
safety plan, pursuant to Section 32281.
(c) Adoption and enforcement of a reasonable dress code policy
pursuant to subdivision (b) is not a violation of Section 48950. For
purposes of this section, Section 48950 shall apply to elementary,
high school, and unified school districts. If a schoolwide uniform is
required, the specific uniform selected shall be determined by the
principal, staff, and parents of the individual school.
(d) A dress code policy that requires pupils to wear a schoolwide
uniform shall not be implemented with less than six months' notice to
parents and the availability of resources to assist economically
disadvantaged pupils.
(e) The governing board shall provide a method whereby parents may
choose not to have their children comply with an adopted school
uniform policy.
(f) If a governing board chooses to adopt a policy pursuant to
this section, the policy shall include a provision that no pupil
shall be penalized academically or otherwise discriminated against
nor denied attendance to school if the pupil's parents chose not to
have the pupil comply with the school uniform policy. The governing
board shall continue to have responsibility for the appropriate
education of those pupils.
(g) A policy adopted pursuant to this section shall not preclude
pupils that participate in a nationally recognized youth organization
from wearing organization uniforms on days that the organization has
a scheduled meeting.