Although Seminole High School’s dress code has long prohibited students from displaying their underpants to all and sundry on school campus, it is now officially against the law. State Senator Gary Siplin (D-19) has finally passed his long fought for bill that makes it illegal to “sag.”
The senator had tried to pass this bill for over six years, but was voted down each time until the most recent legislative session. Siplin’s Code of Student Conduct Bill (SB 228) will make it so that students exposing underwear on campus during school hours for a first offense will receive a verbal warning and a call to their parents. A second offense will warrant a suspension from extracurricular activities for up to five days and a meeting between the principal and parents.
A student caught with their pants down in further offenses will be subject to a maximum three day in-school suspension, 30-day expulsion from extracurricular activities, and a letter to the parents.
One anonymous freshman said, “I think this law is really excessive. Why suspend people for a fashion choice? It just doesn’t make much sense.” Accordingly, there have been many conflicting opinions on this piece of legislature with some calling it a waste of time and others saying that it is necessary in instilling respect in to today’s teenagers.
The origin of droopy pants came to the school system by the way of the prison system. Prisoners were denied use of belts because they could be used as weapons and thus had to let their pants sag out of necessity, not fashion. This effect then moved into pop culture, as rappers wanted to associate themselves with the prison lifestyle to gain street “cred” amongst their compatriots.
Due to the huge amount of influence hip hop music has on American youth, it was inevitable that sagging pants would come to Seminole High and schools around the country. As a result, many schools instituted policies against drooping pants in their school dress codes and gave out dress codes to students in violation. Senator Siplin believed that the fight against droopy pants should go further than mere school or county policies and began lobbying for his sagging pants bill.
Human rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) fought against the bill, saying that it unfairly discriminated against black youth and other minorities. Freshman Carlos Hall said, “We bought our clothes the way we wanted them. It doesn’t matter how you come to school but rather that you come to learn.”
Some parents and students believe that Siplin’s crusade is a waste of taxpayer money because schools already have rules in place to prevent droopy drawers, and the economy of Florida, not the underpants of Florida, should be legislator’s focus.
The senator claims that the law helps prepare students for the real world, where they will not be hired if they dress in such a sloppy way and claims that from an aesthetic point of view, nobody really likes droopy drawers.
Sophomore Antoinette Sims agrees, and said, “You can see people’s boxers sticking out and it’s really ugly.” For now, students at Seminole will have to live with the law and conform to the droopy drawers bill, but the question remains as to whether such social policing should be the legislator’s focus with a weak economy.