Face masks, but not school uniforms, to be required at Cleveland metro school district this fall

(Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

By Collin Cunningham

(CLEVELAND) Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Eric Gordon announced on Monday evening that students will no longer be required to wear specific CMSD uniforms when they return to school this fall.

Per FOX8, Gordon announced in the YouTube address below that the move to more gender-neutral clothing standards could help students improve their self-confidence by giving them more freedom in the way they dress.

"These new dress expectations were designed not only to ensure students dress in a manner that is appropriate, comfortable and conducive to an active academic school day, but also to support all students in developing a body-positive self-image," Gordon told a camera from behind his desk. "The district's new standard dress and appearance policy is also intended to be gender-neutral and applies to all students, equally, regardless of gender, while on school campuses and at school-sponsored functions."

The new dress code is less focused on telling what students to wear as it is on telling them what not to wear, with 3News reporting that the following pieces of apparel will not be allowed:

• clothing that is see-through
• clothing where the buttocks or torso is exposed
• clothing or accessories which show profanity, obscene words or pictures, sexually suggestive statements, violence or incitement to violence
• clothing representing gang-related activities
• clothing where the entire thigh is exposed, such as micro-minis or short shorts.
• bathing suits or cut-offs
• the wearing and carrying of tobacco promotional items, or items promoting controlled substances (drugs) and/or alcohol
• clothing where undergarments are exposed
• clothing that has text or visual images that is libelous, bullying, constitutes harassment or discrimination

Gordon said in the YouTube announcement that the district's previous dress code listed specific requirements for what students should wear.

According to a 2019-20 CMSD school uniform webpage that was active as of Monday morning, girls were required to pick between collared blouses, polo shirts, Oxford tops and turtlenecks. Boys, meanwhile, were beholden to dress shirts, polo tops, Oxford shirts and turtlenecks. Clothing items were required to fall in with the district's strict plain-blue-or-white color scheme and shirts had to be tucked in, regardless of gender.

"Schools and school communities that wish to maintain a more formal dress code as part of their school model are able to do so," the CEO added. "However, those schools must engage in a meaningful effort to include parents in the selection of the uniform and uniform combinations to be worn and must provide families with ample time to purchase the appropriate clothing before implementing that school-based policy."

The uniform announcement came exactly one week after Gordon said that Cleveland Metropolitan students and staff will be required to wear at least one accessory during the first five weeks of the 2021-22 school year: face masks.

Students and teachers will also be expected to maintain at least three feet of social distancing between one another, and all schools in the district are in the process of hiring full-time nurses to be stationed in each building during the upcoming semester, 3News reported separately.

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