The hot hues this fall for back-to-school wear at Culver Middle School will be orange, gray, black and white.

That is because when the sixth- to eighth-grade school starts Sept. 5, students will be required to wear a shirt in one or more of those school colors every day of the week. A new dress code is going into effect, and if a student does not comply, he or she will be punished.

And 12-year-old Mark Merrill is not happy about any of this.

”I think it’s kinda dumb because I can’t, like, wear any of my other colored shirts,” said Mark, who will be a sixth-grader in the fall.

But Culver Middle School Principal Alice Smith said she believes it will be a positive change.

Students only have to wear shirts that are the school colors and they can be in any fabric or fashion that is appropriate for school. They can also be striped or printed, as long as they contain one or more of the required colors, Smith said.

”We are not dictating style,” she said. ”The pants, shorts, skirts, those things all just need to be within the existing dress code.”

Reduced discipline problems

The school implemented the new dress guidelines, called ”Team Wear,” after a year’s worth of surveys and informal discussions among school staff, students and parents.

Traditionally, Fridays have been deemed ”Bulldog Day,” and students were encouraged to wear clothes bearing the school’s mascot and colors. On those days, Smith said, something shifted.

”We began to see at the outset a diminished number of disciplinary incidences, increased attention and focus in the classroom, and even just a difference in the hallways,” Smith said.

While there were not any unusual disciplinary problems at the school, Smith and her staff were curious and began to do some research.

What they discovered intrigued them. They found that public schools that transitioned to uniforms or school color dress policies tended to have better academic performance and school attendance and fewer disciplinary problems than those that didn’t.

And, Smith said, a new policy that would get students to focus less on what is on the outside might help them feel better inside.

”I think that middle school kids are very concerned about what they look like and how they’re perceived by other students,” she said. ”We do have a fairly high poverty rate at our school … and we believe this will be less expensive for families who feel pressured to buy several different outfits.”

About 63 percent of Culver Middle School’s 141 students receive free and reduced lunches, Smith said. Both the middle and elementary schools receive federal Title 1 funds because of their high percentage of low-income students, Culver Schools Superintendent Linda Florence said.

”There’s a huge financial gap in Culver, and it really puts a barrier between a lot of the kids,” said Jodi Clugston, whose son Cody will be a seventh-grader in the fall. ”To see them all on the same level as far as dress goes, is really going to help them out.”

Jordan Jacobsen, who will be a seventh-grader at Culver Middle School, agrees with Clugston.

”I think it’s cool because it makes everybody fit in,” 12-year-old Jordan said. ”If there’s wealthier people than others, it doesn’t make the other people feel bad.”

But Kristie Merrill, Mark’s mom, said there are other ways to do that than by making students wear the same clothes.

”I feel that if the teachers and the principal are truly concerned about evening the playing field with the children, then they need to start educating,” Merrill said.

Other parents don’t want the restrictions.

”I think the issue really is about free choice,” said Janine Nelson, whose son will be a seventh-grader at Culver Middle School.

Merrill and Nelson both complained they received scant notification of the change. Merrill got a survey at October parent-teacher conferences last year asking for parent input on the idea and one subsequent letter that mentioned it. Only by attending a July Culver School Board meeting did she find out the dress code guidelines would be implemented in the fall.

But Smith said the school notified parents repeatedly of the changes. The October survey garnered a small return, but reflected support for the idea, so the school continued to discuss it throughout the year. School staff gave out informational letters at parent-teacher conferences and mailed home letters to those who didn’t attend, Smith said.

The school site council decided to approve the Team Wear decision in February and the school board approved it in April, she said. Students will have a two-week grace period to get used to the idea.

If by then students come to school without bearing any of the Halloween-theme colors, they will be reprimanded in the same way they would for breaking the school’s existing dress code. The existing code focuses on making sure students don’t show too much skin, and for boys, keeping pants at the waistline.

The school will have a supply of clothes students can draw from, Smith said. If the student still refuses to change, he or she will be written up with a report, a parent will be contacted and the student will serve detention. A fourth reprimand will result in a half-day in-school suspension and parent conference, and a fifth one will result in a full day of in-school suspension.

School dress codes becoming the norm

Having a dress code in public schools is not uncommon, said Gene Evans, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Education.

”A lot of districts think the kids perform better if they take the pressure for fashion and style out of the equation and just let them concentrate on the schoolwork.”

For those Culver teens who do participate in the back-to-school shopping ritual, at least one style-savvy sales clerk thought the dress code could be pulled off by anyone.

”Black is always black, so at least they have that, but it’s going to be hard to mix those colors together, Astacia Davis, manager at Bend clothing boutique, Blue, said.

The hot colors this year, she said, are red and nautical colors like navy blue. Orange will be tougher to find.

”I definitely don’t think it’s a color everyone can wear,” Davis said.

But sixth-grade teacher Karen Young said Team Wear will implement positive changes at the school.

”Just by wearing a shirt that everybody else wears in school, they can be connected in a way they might not be socially or economically,” she said.

Her colleague agreed.

”We don’t want everyone to look alike, we just want everyone to know they belong,” said math teacher Tom Kirk.

Smith said a grant funded through a teacher support group will allow the school to purchase three T-shirts per student. The school will put on a fundraiser to pay for each student to get a Bulldog sweatshirt. The staff will appeal to businesses for donations this year, she said. One Culver parent has a contact at Nike’s corporate office, but there is no formal agreement with the company for clothing donations, Smith said.

As for Scott Leeper, vice-chairman of the Culver School Board, the issue hits a little close to home.

”I was in junior high before,” said Leeper, who has a daughter going into sixth grade. ”If you can’t afford name-brand stuff, if you aren’t wearing what everybody else is wearing, you’re kind of an outcast. They call it Team Wear because everybody feels like they’re on the same team.”

IF YOU GO

Officials will discuss the new guidelines for Culver Middle School at a Culver School Board meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Support Services Building, 412 W. E St.