The Daily Populous Wednesday August 7th, 2024 morning edition
Authored by kkco11news.com and submitted by Forward-Answer-4407

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX) - A Texas middle school is banning students from wearing all-black clothing because school officials say it’s associated with mental health issues.

Students at Charles Middle School in El Paso, Texas, headed back to school Monday, days after a letter from Principal Nick DeSantis outlined the school’s new dress code policy. The letter says the school is eliminating all-black clothing because it is “associated with depression and mental health issues and/or criminality.”

Norma De La Rosa, the president of El Paso Teachers Association, explained in more detail why the policy is in place and what clothing is allowed. She says teachers see a sudden change in students going from dressing with color to all black when they are depressed or stressed.

“What they are not allowing is for students to wear clothing that is black from top to bottom,” she said. “They can wear black shorts to go to PE. They can wear it on free dress day, but they just cannot wear it from top to bottom.”

Many parents and community members disagree with the policy, commenting online that clothing color doesn’t define a person’s mental state.

“The color of clothing has nothing to do with your ability to do anything or feel any emotion,” Alex Lucero said.

“Making students wear a different color isn’t going to magically make them a completely different person,” Alexis Contreras said.

De La Rosa says parents who are upset need to read the dress code policy “very, very carefully.”

“So, the colors are not so much to prevent or stop mental health issues. You can have the most colorful dress on and still be suffering through depression,” she said.

The El Paso Independent School District said in a statement that the middle school “is updating its uniform policy to enhance student’s well-being and sense of pride.” Schools in the district are allowed to create their own dress code.

Copyright 2024 KFOX via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.

RandyTheFool on August 6th, 2024 at 17:51 UTC »

So, basically they’re willing to do anything and everything to help the mental health crisis… other than the actual meaningful shit they should actually do.

Got it.

shedrinkscoffee on August 6th, 2024 at 17:41 UTC »

Won't someone think of the goth kids lol. This seems like a low stakes way for kids to express themselves and dress codes like this rarely address the actual problem

turkshead on August 6th, 2024 at 17:23 UTC »

The old dogs have got a new trick, it's called criminalize the symptoms while you spread the disease...