Ah, the Blue Valley dress code.
A set of rules students love to push the limits of or grumble about daily.
Sure, not being able to wear clothes with spaghetti straps because it “distracts from the learning environment” seems a little ridiculous, but, honestly, the dress code could be much stricter.
Could you imagine walking around the halls of BV wearing a uniform matching every other student in the building?
Attending St. Michael the Archangel Catholic School for seven years, uniforms were just another part of school for me.
Every morning I would wake up and put on a collared, white button-up shirt tucked into an uncomfortable knee-length navy, red and tan plaid skirt. Up until fifth grade, I had to wear a jumper instead of a skirt with the same plaid pattern. Switching from the plaid jumper to the skirt was a pretty big deal for the girls at St. Michael’s.
As for the boys, they were required to wear navy or tan pants with a white or red shirt, and, if it was a Wednesday, they had to wear a navy tie for all-school Mass.
Both skirts and shorts had to be to the knee with the shirt tucked in.
So, you still think BV’s dress code is strict?
Other rules at St. Michael’s included no makeup or nail polish, only navy, black or white socks and no jackets worn during school unless it was a uniform-approved sweater.
While the St. Michael’s dress code wasn’t as bad as I probably just made it sound, BV students definitely have it much easier.
And instead of being politely asked by an administrator to change your outfit if it breaks the dress code at BV, students would receive a discipline referral at St. Michael’s if your skirt wasn’t long enough or you didn’t wear a belt with your shorts.
Although it was nice to not think about what to wear to school, it’s even nicer to have the freedom to wear whatever I want at BV (still within the dress code guidelines, of course).
All the private high schools in the area like St. Thomas Aquinas, Rockhurst, Sion, St. James Academy and St. Teresa’s Academy require students to be in uniform.
So even though students can’t wear literally anything they want at BV, our dress code is a much easier set of rules to follow than any of the private schools — something every BV student should consider next time they’re complaining about how “unfair” our dress code is.