Coeur d'Alene High cheerleaders practice routines in front of other cheerleading squads in this photo taken by proud papa Dave Chamberlain at the USA Cheer competition at Eastern Washington University this summer. Dave's daughter is one of the Vik cheerleaders. A Coeur d'Alene School District dress code would ban the cheerleaders from wearing their uniforms to school on game day. Coeur d'Alene Press story here.

The comprehensive dress code policy adopted a year ago by the Coeur d'Alene School District applies to all students, even cheerleaders in uniform on game day. Leslie Damiano, the parent of a Viking cheerleader, attended Monday's school board meeting and told trustees that her daughter and the rest of the girls on the cheer squad learned at practice Wednesday that their cheer uniforms violate dress code and can no longer be worn to school. Damiano said she was speaking on behalf of the cheerleaders who sat in the audience wearing their Viking blue and black outfits. She asked the board members to think back to their own high school days, when on Fridays, they saw their cheerleaders in uniform. “You knew right away, 'We've got a game tonight. Friday night lights are up. They're on,'” Damiano said. She said she believes that cheerleaders in uniform boost the morale of the athletes and help unify the students to support their team/Maureen Dolan, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here. (Coeur d'Alene Press photo)

Question: Should Coeur d'Alene High cheerleaders be allowed to wear their uniforms to school?

In past years, some students would show up for the first day at Syringa Middle School in Caldwell sporting new clothes: a Justin Bieber T-shirt, maybe, or a shiny skirt from Forever 21. Others might wear faded sweatpants or ratty shorts, while a few might have red or blue shirts with gang insignias. But on Wednesday, the first day of classes this year, the students at Syringa were all wearing basically the same thing:  clean collared shirts and dark pants. Caldwell School District has extended its dress code to the middle schools this year, after the elementary schools successfully adopted it last year. Next year, the high school plans to follow suit/Nate Green, Idaho Press Tribune. More here. (Idaho Press Tribune photo: Charlie Litchfield: Syringa Middle School students line up before heading to their next class around noon Wednesday in Caldwell.)

Question: Should schools in your North Idaho community adopt a dress code?

AlmostInnocentBystander: Dress code? Anyone else ever see Michelle O claw her way off Airforce One looking like something the cat coughed up? I don’t care what Vanity Fair says, I’ve seen the First Lady looking more like a Walmart nightmare than a fashionista. Could we kick her out of the WH until some issues her appropriate clothing?

Question: Do you consider Michelle Obama to be fashionable?

The White House hopes to make amends to the family of Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Vernon Baker after they were turned away from a West Wing tour because of dress code issues. … “We would have loved to have hosted 10-year-old Vernon and his family at the White House and we have reached out to the Baker family and Lt. Norris to communicate our deep regret and invite them back to the White House,” spokesman Adam Abrams said. “This family, as well as Lt. Norris, have given so much to our nation and they have our sincerest appreciation and our apologies for this misunderstanding”/Kevin Graman, SR. More here.

• Cutline: In this July 31 file SR file photo, Heidy Baker, center, wife of Vernon Baker, walks back to the church after military honors at an adjacent field, escorted by Capt. David Darney, left, and Tom Norris. (SR file photo: Jesse Tinsley)
  

Question: Are you happy with this outcome?