Protesting Grady’s dress code policy and enforcement, students dressed conservatively under the name of Grady Feminists for Dress Code Reform today. Taped to their clothing were different signs such as “#NotADistraction” and “Am I covered up enough?” which conveyed the opinion that the APS dress code and Grady’s enforcement of it unfairly targets female students. The organization’s Facebook event listed 39 people as participating in today’s protest.

The protest brings an end to a week of student actions criticizing the APS dress code.

According the dress code outlined in the APS Student Handbook, “All students shall dress appropriately so as not to disrupt or interfere with the educational program or the orderly operation of the school.”

The APS Student Handbook categorizes dress code violations as a level two offense or an intermediate act of misconduct. Other level two offenses include stealing or damaging property under $100, inciting a fight and being under the influence of drugs or alcohol on school grounds.

Punishment for breaking the dress code is in-school suspension (ISS). A first offense violation of the dress code warrants one day of ISS unless the dress code violation is corrected. A second offense is three days of ISS or one day if the violation is corrected, and the third offense is five days of ISS. Any violation after the third offense results in a hearing with the Disciplinary Hearing Tribunal which decides the amount of time the student is placed in suspension.

Clothing which is baggy, revealing or distracting is a violation of dress code according to APS policy. The handbook states that specific rules, adhering to the guidelines set by APS, are up to the principal at each APS school. Under Grady’s dress code policy, students must keep their bottoms no shorter than three inches above the knee and tank-tops no thinner than three fingers. Leggings, sweatpants and see-through or ripped clothing are also banned.

On Monday, students hung up flyers criticizing the school dress code policies. A passage of the flyer read, “Dress codes are perpetuating rape culture and oppressive objectification towards young women.”

About a hour after the flyers were initially posted, they were removed. Word of the flyers and their removal spread on social media outlets. That evening, students began to organize to protest the dress code asking for administrative action and dress code reform.

Tuesday morning students posted more flyers, which were again removed promptly.

Grady junior Tessa Szalkowski emailed Carrie MacBrien, communications and journalism academy leader, on Tuesday explaining the issue and asking for it to be addressed by the administration.

In the email to MacBrien, Szalkowski asked for a meeting between students and administration.

“We would like to discuss the equality of the dress code policy,” Szalkowski wrote.

The administration has scheduled the proposed forum for Wednesday, April 29. According to a Facebook event page created by the Grady Feminists for Dress Code Reform, the administration will host a dress code forum in the cafeteria at 4 p.m. next Thursday. The page also indicates that the forum is open to the public.

Junior Camille Williams, a member of the Grady Feminists, is hopeful the forum will productively address student concerns about the dress code.

“I want [the administration] them to see we have so many people who are hurt and missing out and losing things because of the dress code,” Williams said.

Junior Grace Hawkins hopes the meeting will result in change.

“The most important thing I want to come from this movement is a change in attitude from administrators towards Grady students concerning the way that they dress,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins says she thinks this can be accomplished through a more lenient dress code policy and equal enforcement of the dress code to both male and female students.

MacBrien and assistant principals David Propst and Rodney Howard referred Southerner reporters to principal Timothy Guiney. Guiney told The Southerner he would prefer to be interviewed after Thursday’s meeting.

Stay tuned to The Southerner as the story develops.

DISCLOSURE: Several Southerner staff members not involved in the reporting of this story have participated in the dress code protest described in this article.

CORRECTION: An earlier post of this story had the wrong day for the forum. The forum will occur next Wednesday at 4 p.m in the Grady cafeteria.

With reporting by Keegan Hasson and Bailey Kish.