Forgive me if this has all

been said before.

I don't know if our county

schools should or should not adopt and enforce a new,

more strict dress code that would have all shirts tucked

in, belts in belt loops, no saggy-baggies, no book bags,

etc...

I know Dr. John DeCotis and

admire and respect his leadership. Bless you, Dr.

DeCotis! Please know that we keep you, our school board,

and all our school administrators and especially all our

teachers in our constant prayers. You are truly heroes,

doing an almost impossible job with dignity and even

success. Again, God Bless you all.

I said I don't know if we

should adopt the new dress code or not. I do know that

well-behaved-good-grade students have expressed to me

that they are not for the new code. Their sentiment seems

to be that it won't help any. They seem to think that the

vast majority of "good students" are going to

be "punished" because of the few

"bad" ones. They tell me that they think that

if someone would still want to "do harm" in

school, in reality - despite a more strict dress

code - they could.

I honor those students and

respect those opinions.

On the flip side, it does

seem to me that anything close to "gang wear"

or anything "indecent" has no place in the

public arena of our schools.

Back to the students with

whom I have had conversation about all this... Their main

concern is that whatever is decided and passed as

official policy must be administered and judged equally.

For to have the "good kids" keep the rules

- even if they don't like them - and to have

others "get away with" obvious violations, is a

"joke" that breeds hostility and resentment in

even the "good kids"... which is NOT a joke and

is exactly the opposite of the intended outcome of the

more strict codes, which is a contented student body

respecting the rights and privileges of others while

getting the best education possible.

Now, we all want to Do

Something. We want to show our responsibility by not just

letting Colorado and Conyers slide without response. Amen

to that! But, obviously, what we do and how we do it is

important.

Here's my question:

Wouldn't it be most effective to work on our "school

problems" from the inside out? It does seem

that a strict new dress code assumes that changing the

outside of our students will somehow (miraculously?) also

change the inside. I may still agree that sometimes

"Clothes make the person," but more often not.

And what could be done from

the inside out? What do you think about these as a

few of the possibilities?

1. Do all we can in school

to teach fertile minds in such a way so that they master

the subject matter. This goes far beyond "presenting

the material," of course.

2. Do all we can in school

to teach fertile minds in such a way so that they master

far more than academics, but also respect, honor, decency

and self-esteem. This includes treating and teaching our

faculties and staffs in this way, adding curriculum

components with these themes, hiring teachers who show

themselves as examples of these virtues, administering

discipline fairly and justly, and whatever else we can

give permission to our schools to do toward this end.

3. Do all we can to educate

parents (even make certain things mandatory for parents

perhaps). And prove to parents that our schools are open

to parental involvement - including being open to

the advice and counsel from parents concerning what might

be best for their child at school. Parents can't be

dictators, of course, but they can be integral partners

on the educational team.

4. Last on this short list,

but certainly not least - Make a county-wide rule,

policy and law that school events cannot take place on

Wednesday nights. Then encourage students to seek out a

church, synagogue, mosque, or some other moral-teaching

institution on those Wednesday nights to seek further

development in the areas of morals, character, society,

relationship with God (gasp! Yes, even use the word!).

And make it clear why this night is special.

Don't just give the kids

and parents a night off! It would then become no more

meaningful than the "Moment of Silence" which

was supposed to be a time for private-personal-silent

prayer, but has become a joke of its own.

Who knows, maybe even the

Little League and the soccer league and all other leagues

will do their part to save society (I'm serious!) and

realize what they are doing is great, but not as

important as what our local churches might be doing on

Wednesday nights, and even they will call "time

out" on Wednesday nights.

Then I think we'd be

getting somewhere!

Then the changes would be from

the inside out, and don't you think they would be

more dramatic, lasting, and have a much greater impact on

society.

To those of you dear,

committed citizens and servants of our community who will

make the decision on the dress code, please know our

prayers are with you. And please know that we will abide

four times before we get it right.

But regardless of what

dress code we end up with, what are we going to do about

building our children from the inside out?

Kollmeyer is senior

pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in

Fayetteville.

<!--

-----------