(February 21, 2008) — During the last days of the first semester, Principal Doug Dall sent out a message on the PA clarifying the Clark dress code. The result: upset students. To Assistant Principal Kristina Provost, the controversy about the school dress code is ridiculous. Docker-style pants are Docker-style pants, period. “Our uniform may be ugly to some, but our uniform that says ‘I’m on the Clark team’ is a solid, collared shirt and Docker-style pants, and a student that follows that dress code without being asked to wear the ‘team jersey’ is a ‘team player,’” Provost said. She recalled her two-year experience on the worst team in her entire Associated Youth Soccer Organization league. Provost’s team jersey and shorts were, according to her, a “poopy chocolate brown” color, not at all popular in her childhood. “Instead of complaining about the color, we named ourselves The Gazelles because gazelles run like we did with no purpose at all and they were that color,” she said with a laugh. The Gazelles went to all their practices and always wore their “ugliest uniforms in the league, admittedly, with pride.” Freshman Laura Widholm, too, feels pride wearing her dress-code-appropriate outfits. In her opinion, her clothes aren’t “better” than those of the people who attend her home school, but “nicer.” “A lot of other people wear T-shirts and jeans, but I’m wearing Docker-style pants and a polo shirt, so that feels like you’re going to an interview or some dressy affair,” Widholm said. ” I think that the idea behind the dress code is to give us a business-like attitude so that everybody would actually get work done instead of worrying about what they’re wearing.” But Widholm isn’t concerned with her apparel much. She appreciates that the dress code opens up an atmosphere of student equality, where “you’re not based on whether you have the newest brand names.” During summer vacation, each student received and signed a dress-code agreement. In reality, a “new and stricter” dress code wasn’t recently established—only a dress-code enforcement. “The only reason why Mr. Dall has come up with the definition of jeans to include outside pockets and rivets is to clarify for students that are unclear about the ‘team’ dress code,” Provost said. She said that a dress code is a slippery slope—students allowed to wear stripes may end up wearing skull and crossbones. Widholm agrees with Provost and said that if students were given the chance to get away with rivets and the sewn-on pockets, then they will want to get away with dark-color jeans. “We have higher expectations. We expect you to follow what you’ve signed up for.”