Rolling up onto school grounds on August 17^th,
many students felt a sense of excitement, prepared to begin the new year at
Joliet West. For freshman, this environment was brand new and foreign. To
upperclassmen, however, it’s nothing they haven’t seen before… or so they
thought. Instead of faculty members welcoming their pupils with open arms on
the first day, students were faced with a line of deans holding yellow slips.
The deans were inspecting everything from the holes in your jeans to the strap
lengths of your shirt, and to the surprise of many, even the tightness of your
pants and the cut of your neckline.

Coming into the 2011-2012 school year, administrators were
believed to have added two new rules to the dress code, which prohibit the
wearing of yoga pants and V-necks. “I don’t understand why wearing yoga pants
and V-necks is suddenly a big issue,” Junior Olivia Radokavich said, regarding
these unexpected “changes” to the dress code, “I mean, I’ve been wearing yoga
pants since freshman year – a lot of my friends have – and I just don’t get why
all of a sudden it’s such a problem.”

Although the vast majority of students cannot come to a
reasonable explanation as to why these articles of clothing, that were worn
excessively in the preceding years, precipitously became a problem, Dean Staley
wishes to shed some light on this topic. When asked to comment on the new dress
code policy, Staley responded, “What new dress code policy? There has been no
revision of the changes in the dress code. The rules have remained the same;
they are just being more enforced.”

If you look back in your planner from previous years, you
will see that spandex material (yoga pants) has always been against the dress
code, as well as V-necks. Another misconception that students have pondered
over is the “three finger rule” for shirt straps. “The three finger rule is
junior high stuff. For West, you need to have your shoulder covered. That is
also in your planner,” Dean Staley said.

So, for the record, there has been no changes in the dress
code, but on the flip side to that, why the sudden reinforcement? When asked
about the comparison of the reinforcement of dress code policy this year to the
previous ones, Staley remarked, “We tend to focus on one thing at a time. Last
year violence was a big issue, and after enforcing the rules on violence, the
physical altercations have decreased. Now, we are focusing on another
topic…dress code. The first couple days I had to write a lot of people up, and
now the students have gotten better about wearing more appropriate attire. The
next order of business we will focus on will be the wearing of IDs.”

So, may this be a warning to you all, WEAR YOUR IDS. In the
words of Dean Staley,” just follow directions”. Do not wear yoga pants or
V-necks. You most likely will get sent to your dean, thus resulting in a call
home for a change of clothes or even ISS in some severe cases of one or more
offenses.