Ansonia Students Getting Used To New Dress Code

PHOTO: Ethan FryAnsonia High School Principal Joe Dobbins sat in his office Monday (Sept. 9) feeling kind of bad.”

He had just given a student a talking-to over the school district’s new dress code. Did the student in question show up that day in mesh shorts and flip-flops, with a baseball cap turned defiantly backwards?

No — in fact, Dobbins said, he looked too good.

He had one of our Ansonia shirts on, and he had a gray cardigan on over it,” the principal said. The kid looked great, but I had to tell him You’re out of dress code.’ In those situations I feel kind of bad, because the kid really looked sharp.”

Isn’t that a bit over the top?

Perhaps, but Dobbins said the school district is enforcing the dress code to the letter of the law because it’s a new policy for this year.

If that’s our biggest problem, that kids look good … I can’t believe it,” Dobbins said.

It’s been a surprisingly smooth transition since the city’s Board of Education voted in April to implement a new dress code beginning with the 2013 – 2014 school year, he said.

The complete policy is embedded below — generally, boys have to wear navy blue or khaki dress or docker pants/shorts, with shirts which have an Ansonia” logo on them in either navy blue, white, or Carolina blue.

Girls have a few more options — jumpers, skirts, pants, shorts, capris or skorts — in navy blue or khaki, and Ansonia” logo shirts in navy blue, white, or Carolina blue.

Article continues after the document.

Ansonia Dress Code

When school began in Ansonia Aug. 29, Dobbins expected about 75 to 100 students to show up out of uniform.

The actual number — 13.

Of those students, Dobbins said most immediately purchased whatever they were missing from the school store.

Only one student’s resistance to the new code rose to the level of insubordination,” he said.

To have what we had and to be dealing with what we’re dealing with now is wonderful,” Dobbins said.

A handful of students the Valley Indy spoke with briefly Monday agreed.

Louis Nicoletti, 17, a senior at the school, said that like most others, he was a little skeptical” when the idea of the new dress code was brought up by school officials last year.

But then, he said, he saw the effect of the change.

I really think that it makes it a lot more proper, and everybody looks a lot nicer,” Nicoletti said. I was actually surprised at how many kids came in and everybody was all set. Everybody seemed good on the first day.”

Vanessa Taskin, 17 and also a senior, agreed, adding that the dress code gives students a preview of the real world.

When you go out into the work force when you get older you’re going to have to dress a specific way anyways,” she said.

Not all were too thrilled about the changes.

They’re not bad,” said Arkeel Newsome, 19, the senior star running back of the school’s juggernaut football team, of the new uniforms — though he’d like to see some changes.

Just for more varieties of things to wear, like different colors,” Newsome said.

It does make the school look better, though,” he added.

Superintendent Carol Merlone said Monday that the rest of the city’s schools reported similar numbers of children being out of uniform on the first day of school, with the numbers decreasing since.

When they returned back everybody seemed to be in dress code, even at the elementary level,” Merlone said.

Financial assistance is available for those for whom buying the clothes would be a burden, she said.

Merlone said the school district had a dress code already, but it was more complicated than the new rules and resulted in administrators having to take time away from their days to chase down” students who weren’t adhering to the rules.

It takes time away from the instructional day,” she said. We wanted to take any distractors away.”

Another reason: if all students are in uniform while in school, it’s easier to see someone who shouldn’t be there.

You know who belongs really quickly, or you can see an outside intruder quickly, too,” Merlone said. But more than that, the kids look like they’re ready to learn, and we want them dressed for success.”

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