“Disparate impact” is a term of art that exists within a legal practice and any googling would return results related to legal theories. I didn’t try to pretend that this a legal issue, you did.

Yeah, cool. I’m sure no transgender kid in the district appreciates it.

I just feel really bad for all the commenters whose very small kids seem to run the show. If you’re letting a 5 year-old decide what she will and won’t wear to school, you’re setting yourself up for a lifetime of hurt.

Well, her dad is actually the only person in this story who is suggesting that there’s a sexual dimension to this. He doesn’t claim that any adult at the school actually said anything like that to him or his daughter - just that spaghetti straps are against the rules.

Did you find the same was true before puberty? I think the majority of this discussion deals with very young girls whose parents can’t find appropriate clothes for them at Target. I guess I had no idea that the under-10 set was wearing such finely-tailored attire.

If you follow the link, you can actually read the dress code. It makes very clear that things like make-up and jewelry restrictions are gender-neutral and it does not, for example, limit those forms of expression to female-identified students. This parent was very careful to select just one very small portion of a…

Tshirts had to be clean and solid-colored. Sweatshirts could only be school-branded. And shorts had to be knee-length when standing. (For all genders and ages.)

Yeah, I left the classroom to go on to a top law school and now I’m an education civil rights lawyer. But don’t let that dissuade you from making your rude (and sexist) generalizations about traditionally female-dominated careers!

The school didn’t sell her the dress. They don’t have to allow kids to wear anything on the ground that it was bought in the properly-gendered section of a store.

Could you help me find the place where I suggested that he was wrong for writing a blog post? I disagree with him based on my experience on the other side of this, but I don’t think I ever said that he was wrong for speaking up about his view.

I’m suggesting that anyone can shop in any section.

I don’t recall that ever being used as an explanation for any of our dress code rules. We were taught that there are appropriate ways to dress in different settings and that our school dress code was designed to prepare us for the professional world.

So then this dad should take it to the school board. Rally parents! Organize students! Tell them he wants to rewrite the dress code! If they don’t listen, vote them out of office. I’m not saying this is the most best ultimate ideal dress code - but it isn’t unreasonable.

But here’s the thing, I had a student once come in wearing what was clearly a sexy adult negligee as a dress (over leggings and a tshirt so it was fine). But in this example, would it be ok to make her change cause she’s not wearing the right kind of spaghetti strap? And who gets to decide?

You know what I liked wearing when I was 5? Leotards (with nothing else - which is clearly the only way to wear a leotard) You know what I was not allowed to wear to school? A leotard. One guess what I wore all the time at home...

I guess I’d rather just have one rule for everyone (no spaghetti straps) than leave it to a teacher or principal to decide whose spaghetti straps are ok and when.

Well, this dress code shown here says no “loose” or “baggy” clothes and specifies that pants must be worn at the waist or hip. So, like two minutes ago?

I don’t like the assumption that boys would only shop in the boys’ section. This message seems to be in conflict with the ideal of a gender-neutral dress code.

But that’s just not true. Boys at my school had gender-specific rules about how they could wear their hair and what accessories were permissible.

I’m torn about this. It is age-neutral but it’s also gender-neutral - which is a thing that I really appreciate. (I’m not gonna get into whether it’s enforced that way.) I know that when a member of my family had to write a dress code for a federal agency, he was very careful to word it in a way that any person had to…