During the 2026 legislative session, House Bill 681 was introduced, proposing a dress code be required at all Iowa schools. The policy requires students to dress appropriately for an educational setting, presentable, promoting personal hygiene, neatness, and modesty. I know I can’t be the only one who acknowledges the proposal’s vagueness and use of terms like modesty and hygiene.
First off, what classifies as hygienic in this scenario? Is this term punishing the kid in my fourth hour, sweaty from show choir, the class before, or the kid in my first hour whose home life doesn’t provide them with the necessary access to what we consider “proper” hygiene? Trust me, I don’t personally enjoy sitting next to smelly high school students, but what is the tipping point? How extreme does a case have to be to enact a punishment or violation? How does Congress propose we punish them? I predict this will 100% affect students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and those with difficult home environments.
Most Kennedy students aren’t often found pushing the boundaries of fashion, most wearing some form of casual pajamas, sweats, or loungewear to their classes. Students question whether the new bill, if enacted, will affect their closet size and their bank accounts.
The bill contains more limited and vague descriptors of modesty, like “midriff” and “exposed skin.” By that wording, a good percentage of my closet would be considered “inappropriate”, and god knows my current job doesn’t pay enough for me to buy a new, presentable wardrobe. Look around your local Target, almost everything is cropped, too tight, or has strategically placed holes. (Yes, even in the children’s section!)
Do they expect us to dress in business casual every day? Will sweats or pajama pants be the next clothing item on the chopping block? We all wake up and are expected to be at school at 7:50 and stay for the remaining six and a half hours. Not to mention the Kennedy classrooms, which are not exactly known for their stable temperature. Who are pajama pants hurting?
As for modesty… I think we all can guess who the bill is targeting. I informed a classmate of the upcoming legislation.“I think that this dress code wouldn’t impact [the boys] at all, but I assure you if there were a dress code that would regulate their clothing, they wouldn’t even consider it… because it’s the girls’ clothing that’s distracting,” senior Vee Blattner said.
This poses a great question. Who are we distracting? The male students? I know that seeing a midriff or shoulders does not prevent me from learning. If we are trying to ban students or teachers from leering at students’ bodies, that is not an issue with the clothes. That is a problem with the individual.
Apparently, not the teachers. Most teachers, when asked, have never found a reason to enforce the dress code on a student or have been offended enough to do so.
“If the clothing doesn’t impact their learning, it doesn’t impact my teaching,” Kennedy art teacher Erin Gauvin said.
Accessories that the board of directors of a school district determines are disruptive to the health, safety, or educational environment are also prohibited. Again, more unspecificity. No “disruptive” accessories? I can absolutely see this affecting alternative students in the future, ones who use accessories to express themselves or a certain subculture. So far, this sounds a lot like uniform policies- and guess what?
The bill states that school boards, even public schools, can implement additional requirements or uniform policies. Why, as of recent, especially with a rise in conservatism, are adults so intent on restricting young people from expressing themselves? Especially in such a vital period as high school, where everyone is trying to figure out who they are, what they like, and how they want the world to see them? Even if we are a public school, who’s to say what this change will look like by next year, or the next ten, for that matter, but lately bills being passed in Iowa do not seem to care what public school students think.
The bill seems vague for a reason. Instead of setting a standard, let’s leave it up to the already overworked school district employees to interpret our rules and put one more thing on our teachers’ plates by requiring them to enforce it. Remember as a U.S. citizen, you have the ability to call your legislators and tell them to stop staring at kids’ bodies and start focusing on protecting them or here is a wild idea, help educate them.
