Boy Loses First Round In Dress Code Battle

A 12-year-old boy is going back to class in uniform after losing what may be the first round of a protracted battle against the dress code at McIlvaigh Middle School.

A School Board committee decided Wednesday that the baggy jeans, T-shirt and black high-top tennis shoes favored by Everette Ian Richardson don’t amount to constitutionally protected expression.

On Thursday his father, Everette L. Richardson, and a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented him in a hearing before the committee Oct. 24, said the next step might be a court challenge.

“My gut reaction is it’s time to get serious,” the elder Richardson said.

“It really goes back to issues we started working on in the ‘60s, when they booted kids out of school because their hair was too long,” said Doug Honig, an ACLU spokesman.

McIlvaigh is one of five in the city in which a strict dress code was adopted this year to combat gang influence and make it easier to identify non-students on campus.

Susan Schreurs, general counsel for the school system, said the policy was adopted and implemented appropriately “and we will defend it vigorously.”