School district panel looks at new rules to dress up teachers

      No shirt, no shoes, no job.
      A Clark County School Board committee takes up tonight a proposed dress code for teachers that's so stringent it would ascribe a specific minimum length on women's dresses, bar men from wearing earrings and outlaw sneakers and jeans.
      The proposal, a spinoff of rules used by the Dallas Public School District, would explicitly dictate:
      --A male teacher or administrator must wear "a dress shirt, tie (and) dress slacks."
      --A female teacher or administrator must wear "professional dresses or skirts, which are no shorter than 2 inches above the bend of the knee in length."
      --No "facial jewelry" for all employees and no earrings for men.
      --No jeans, shorts, slippers, sneakers, provocative shirts and tops, T-shirts or spandex outfits.
      --Physical education and vocational teachers are exempt from the dress requirements.
      The teachers union's executive director said the labor group would fight the policy in its current form.
      "If they're considering imposing that kind of dress code, we would be very, very, very strongly opposed to it," said Stephen Confer, head of the Clark County Classroom Teachers Association.
      Teachers on the smoking corner at Jydrstrup Elementary School on Friday found the proposal laughable. All were in casual attire ranging from shorts to sweat shirts, with almost everyone wearing sneakers. They echoed a concern raised by Confer that a dress code applying to every position is impractical.
      "In the primary grades, we're on the floor with the kids working with glue and paint," said first-grade teacher Lisa Morgan. "I've ruined so many good dresses already. I can't afford to be replacing seven or eight outfits because they get destroyed by magic markers."
      The plan comes before the Policy Committee tonight at the request of recently elected Trustee Shirley Barber, who retired as principal of Fitzgerald Elementary School in December.
      Barber did not return calls Friday or Monday, but she asked for the policy at a recent board meeting out of concern teachers were not presenting themselves as professionally as they should.
      The two-page plan would replace the current 20-word policy that calls in nonspecific language generally for the dress and grooming of employees to "conform to business, occupational and professional standards."
      Trustee Lois Tarkanian, chairwoman of the Policy Committee, said the proposal is too restrictive but opens up a number of issues for debate.
      Tarkanian, a former teacher, admitted she started her career wearing heels, then switched to flats and "some days I wore tennis shoes. Quite honestly, I needed those."
      Confer said a poll of the union's members last week showed 48 percent of respondents "disagreed" or "strongly disagreed" that a dress code was necessary. About 24 percent "agreed" or "strongly agreed" there should be one. Confer said the union had only tallied 700 of the ballots received because they needed to compile the numbers in time for tonight's meeting.
      Those figures contradict a school district poll of about 1,550 teachers taken in 1992 that found a tie of 43 percent agreeing a dress code is needed and 43 percent disagreeing.
      The debate spread to parents, some of whom backed the plan as they evoked memories of a lost era when teachers wore more formal clothes.
      "My son's teacher dresses decently, but I've been in his school and seen other teachers wearing torn clothes and very revealing outfits," parent Faye Dunsky said.
      Cimarron-Memorial High School world history teacher Nancy Schneider agreed, noting that "teachers have fought for years to be treated as professionals, so it's only fair we look like professionals."
      Others, such as Cimarron-Memorial English teacher Jeff Krantz, said more leniency should be considered. Krantz said he dresses up for the first few weeks to establish respect, then occasionally will dress down to seem "more human" to students.
      Yet parent Liz Beaver questioned why the proposal is being considered now.
      "I haven't had any problems," Beaver said. "They should be able to dress as they want."
      Cimarron-Memorial Principal Ken Bedrosian viewed the dress code proposal as contrary to the school board's rhetoric about leaving such matters to principals' discretion.
      Jydstrup Principal Nadine Nielsen said a teacher's choice of jewelry, for instance, is a personal decision.
      "The plan is absolutely too controlling, and it was done without any involvement from any of the people it affects most," Nielsen said. "The standards can be set here."