As a solution to the conflicts contributed by the dress code punishments, the administration developed a new regulation that has been enforced since the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year.

“I am in favor of dress code; it keeps people from exposing themselves and prevents them from ruining their morals to a certain extent,” junior Imran Chowdhry said.

In previous years, after students were caught and sent to the office, they would solely get a Saturday school and were compelled to attend their classes again.  However, this proved to be a problem since individuals were not aware on who had received a penalty prior to themselves.  When other students were caught, they questioned why they were getting punished while their fellow classmates were wearing the same type of clothing.

“Giving Saturday school was a problem since the students would argue that there are other kids wearing the same clothing,” Principal Tom Houts said.  “We were getting a lot of complaints from the students.”

Then, the administration decided to send the students home or make them stay in the office throughout the day, though this interfered with their schooling.  Complaints from parents also sprung up since their kids were missing their classes, which proved to be unacceptable.  Former dress code offender Adriana Mendoza saw no effect in having this rule because most high school kids do not see it as provoking.

“Sending the students home isn’t really a good idea because it’s not offending anyone,” Mendoza said, “and it will not make the kids stop wearing those types of clothing anyway.”

For this school year, the administration created an attire for the students to wear after being caught violating the school rules.

“Since we started this, it has been really beneficial and we have had fewer complaints,” Houts said.

The outfit, which is washed daily, consists of a bright yellow shirt with the word “busted” along with green shorts.  Certainly this proved to be useful for the staff while the students, like Adriana Castrejon, were obliged to attend their classes with the unappealing garments.

“I think it is an atrocious display of authority,” Castrejon said.  “They give innocent students dress code for being individuals.  It’s quite baffling.”

Although most of the students are opposed to this guideline, the Viking staff and administration seem to be fond of this rule.  With less conflicts regarding dress code, the school year will be able to progress smoothly.