{"id":361928,"date":"2026-08-03T22:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T22:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/361928\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T22:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T22:26:10","slug":"hillsborough-school-board-reconsiders-dress-code-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/361928\/","title":{"rendered":"Hillsborough School Board reconsiders dress code policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Just weeks after approving a new student code of conduct, Hillsborough County School Board members are considering changing it.<\/p>\n

The debate centers on a dress code requirement for students wearing leggings. One parent says that the rule unfairly targets girls, and he has gathered thousands of signatures calling for it to be changed.<\/p>\n

Just weeks before the start of a new school year, Oleg Martens said he and his two daughters were shocked by a sudden change to the dress code.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an intro to high school that my daughter went to. She came back with a friend from orientation day and said, \u2018You know what Dad, they\u2019re banning spandex. They\u2019re banning yoga pants,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This is the part of the dress code he\u2019s talking about: It states, in part, that spandex or leggings are not permitted unless worn as an undergarment or covered by clothing that extends at least mid-thigh.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy now? This is a comfortable clothing choice they can make to go to school and still meet what used to be the dress code for Hillsborough County, so I don\u2019t understand any of that, and frankly, I disagree with it because I think the rule disproportionately effects girls,\u201d said Martens.<\/p>\n

Martens started this petition<\/a> two weeks ago \u2014 since then, nearly 3,000 people have signed it. He also spoke at last week\u2019s school board meeting, asking board members to take a second look.<\/p>\n

\"Nearly<\/p>\n

Nearly 3,000 people have signed the petition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to better understand as a community what motivated the changes. What data was used, what peer review studies, what empirical data was used. I\u2019ve done a little bit of research online and I\u2019m finding no conclusive evidence that indicates restricting what young women can wear at school reduces distractions or improves the learning experience,\u201d he said, addressing the school board.<\/p>\n

Board members listened and are taking a second look on Tuesday. They will decide whether to amend the leggings portion of the dress code.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur student code of conduct goes before parents, students, administrators \u2014 to get to that point, of committees who have gone through and looked at that, but our board is listening to our families,\u201d said Hillsborough County School Superintendent Van Ayres. \u201cAnd there were some concerns around that, so they\u2019re going to talk about it (Tuesday).\u201d<\/p>\n

The Martens family says they\u2019ll be watching closely to see whether school board members agree that the policy deserves a change.<\/p>\n

The Hillsborough School Board will vote at Tuesday\u2019s meeting. It starts at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Just weeks after approving a new student code of conduct, Hillsborough County School Board members…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4996,274,113,5711,276,2200,115,135,137,136,278,2032,835],"class_list":["post-361928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-education","tag-app-top-stories","tag-education","tag-fallon-silcox","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-instagram-bn9","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-top-stories","tag-trending-topics","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}