http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.d ... /709140350Students challenge ban on Gothic
School board policy prohibits such clothing
BY MEGAN DOWNS
FLORIDA TODAY
Back in black. A group of Rockledge High students wants the right to dress in their Gothic clothing at school. But school board policy specifically prohibits the attire and accessories.
Fifteen-year-old Amaris Mulhauser prepared for school Thursday morning using a thick-black eyeliner to draw tear streaks dripping down her cheeks.
A few hours later, she was pulled out of her Rockledge High English class and told to go home -- the second time this week -- for wearing the Gothic makeup that administrators had warned her to remove.
Amaris is one of about 30 students trying to change the district's dress code policy, which they believe is outdated and curtails their freedom of expression. The students went before the school board this week to argue their case.
Federal courts have been debating student speech and expression rights for years as school officials around the country struggle to balance the expectation of a safe learning environment with students' rights.
Brevard Public Schools' dress code policy specifically prohibits Gothic-style clothing or accessories, citing that such gear is tied to "violent or death oriented themes."
The debate over what students can wear even extends to the more demure khaki-and-polo garb now required in more public schools in Brevard. At least one parent is challenging the new uniform policy at Riverview Elementary in Titusville.
After listening to the appeal from the Goth students, school board member Larry Hughes said Thursday he would ask for clarification on the dress code as the board reviews all policies during the next few months.
"They seem like a good group of kids," Hughes said. "Clearly, their dress is a little bit different. But if you were to discount some of the things they are wearing that are not allowed, like piercings and wild makeup, then I really don't have a problem with wearing dark clothing. There might be some wiggle room in our policy to accommodate them."
Amaris -- a soft-spoken sophomore who said she'd never been suspended and had never received a grade lower than a C -- argues she has a right to her style of dress. She said her clothing is part of her Wiccan religion, a neo-pagan, Earth-centered faith.
"I get pulled out of classes, stopped in the hallways, all because they say our makeup is a distraction," Amaris, who signs the "A" in her name with the anarchy symbol, told the Brevard County School Board. "I think basically it is a ploy against people who are different. I am very tired of the unfair treatment that we've been given."
Rockledge High Principal Anthony Hines said Amaris wasn't suspended because of her Wiccan or Gothic associations, but because of her extreme makeup and lip ring, which school district policy deems a safety hazard.
"We had already asked her to comply and told her what the consequences are," Hines said. "We don't make the policy, but we are bound by our jobs to enforce the policy."
A crackdown on teen Goths nationwide followed the 1999 Columbine massacre in which two Colorado teens wearing trench coats and black clothing killed 12 and wounded 24 of their classmates, said Gordon Crews, a professor at Washburn University in Topeka, Kan., who specializes in Gothic subculture studies and criminal justice.
"There's so much misperception and miscommunication that it leads to hysteria," he said. "Just because kids are wearing black or a facial piercing, we automatically attach that to disruptive behavior when most the time these kids are well behaved."
No other style subgroup, such as hip hop, skater or preppy, is specifically listed in the Brevard Public Schools policy.
The district entered the word "Gothic" into the dress code in reaction to the Columbine incident, Area Superintendent Tom McIntyre said.
"Like it or not, Columbine did change cultures at school, just as 9-11 changed our country regarding terrorism," McIntyre said. "Our schools look at these kinds of things much more seriously because we have seen what the end results can be. The expectation of the administration is to maintain a safe and orderly environment."
Rockledge High junior Dustin Morley, who doesn't call himself Goth and normally wears jeans and T-shirts to school, said Gothic wear doesn't disrupt learning, and he's tired of the continual criticism.
"Nobody is going to be disrupted because they are gawking at somebody's eye makeup or lip ring. That does not happen."
Contact Downs at 242-3549 or
mdowns@floridatoday.com.
