County schools to allow pajama pants
Apr. 10—Beginning this fall, students in Whitfield County will be able to wear pajama pants to school, with certain restrictions.
The Board of Education approved the measure in 3-0 vote Monday. Chairman Bill Worley was absent and council member Joe Barnett participated via cellphone. The change to the school system's dress code will allow students to wear pajama pants at school year-round, as long as they meet certain guidelines.
Previously, pajama pants were prohibited system-wide unless otherwise approved by principals for special days throughout the year, such as in celebration of holidays or during spirit weeks.
The updated dress code now "allow(s) pajama pants to be worn if students want to wear them all year long, just like any other pair of pants," said Whitfield County Schools Director of Student Services Chris Parker. "But they would still need to be sized appropriately. No baggy or oversized pant legs and they must be fitted and secured at the waist."
As stated in the updated student dress code, pajama pants, along with any other approved clothing item, may also not be worn to school if they are "worn with rips, holes and tears" above the knee, "revealing or immodest," or if there is writing emblazoned on the rear, among other requirements.
Parker said pajama pants will be treated in a similar fashion to yoga pants and jogging pants, which have been previously permitted.
The allowance of pajama pants yearlong was discussed during a February committee meeting held by Parker. Each year a committee made up of parents, community members and Whitfield County Schools staff convenes to discuss both the student dress and discipline codes and to detail any proposed changes or concerns for the following school year.
Parker said the committee agreed pajama pants function similarly to jogging pants and yoga pants.
"They agreed that it's not really an issue when students wear them, and when you've got two kids sitting in class and one has jogging pants on and the other has pajama pants on, it just takes part of their time out of class to have to address it," he said.
The board also approved a change to the student discipline code regarding the system's cellphone retrieval policy.
Previously, the discipline code stated student cellphones confiscated by teachers or staff during the day would only be returned to a parent or legal guardian.
"Based on circumstances, some of our students may not necessarily have a guardian or a parent that would be able to get to the school to pick up the cellphones, so we changed it to read 'in accordance with school rules or administrative rules,'" Parker said.
With the change, administrators at each school will be able to use their discretion when deciding how to return cellphones or other electronic devices to students.
Parker said the reasoning behind the change revolves around the many "unique situations" that students may face.
"Back then, it was typically a parent that enrolled the child, but that has changed," he said. "Now, it can be any number of people enrolling the child and sometimes parents aren't available for a variety of reasons."
