Amanda Pevey
Elmore Autauga News
The Elmore County Board of Education is expected to reverse its newly adopted ban on leggings for students after hearing concerns from parents and discussing the issue during Tuesday night’s work session and regular board meeting.
Following a lengthy discussion during the work session, Superintendent Richard Dennis told board members during the regular meeting that he would bring back a revised dress code that removes the leggings ban while addressing the concerns school administrators raised about enforcing the policy.
“We discussed the dress code policy that banned leggings,” Dennis told the board. “In your request to me, so that I’m correct, would be that I bring it back, and we do not ban those at this point, but we do look at measures to resolve some of the concerns the administrators were having with leggings on campus.”
Dennis said the proposed amendment will be presented during a special called board meeting expected during the first week of August.
“At that board meeting, I’ll present that change in policy as it relates to the Code of Conduct with leggings so that that can be addressed,” Dennis said. “We’ll have outlined procedures and expectations that fall in line with leggings being worn appropriately on campus. And I will specifically communicate that to parents, students, guardians and anybody else that chooses to listen.”
The discussion began during Tuesday’s work session after Board Chairman David Jones said he had received numerous emails from parents after the district released its back-to-school dress code graphic stating that leggings would no longer be permitted for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
“I felt this would be an appropriate place to discuss the policy specifically regarding the leggings for females, and if there is a possible solution that we can do to possibly revise that policy,” said Jones.
The leggings restriction was included in the updated student dress code policy for the 2026-2027 school year.
Director of Human Resources Susanne Goodin said the change was driven largely by feedback from school administrators, who said enforcing the previous policy had become increasingly difficult and was consuming valuable instructional time.
“We had a couple of meetings starting in the spring,” Goodin said. “Even after the discussion came about, I did send a survey out to each administrator.”
According to Goodin, about 62% of administrators supported eliminating leggings, while a smaller percentage opposed the change or were indifferent.
She said administrators reported that dress code violations involving leggings frequently resulted in students being sent to in-school suspension because shirts were rolled up, tucked in or otherwise no longer met the existing requirement to adequately cover the front and back.
“The frustration is the amount of time administrators are dealing with dress code issues, taking away from what really needs to be done, Goodin said. “We need to keep the focus on academics and the other aspects of what we are doing in education. These administrators feel like it is a distraction to learning.”
Chairman Jones suggested allowing leggings if students wore shorts over them.
“I have no problem with leggings,” Superintendent Richard Dennis said. “If you’re wearing something that covers, I do not care if you wear the leggings. It is when you are not wearing something and it becomes a problem.”
He also noted that enforcing subjective dress code standards creates additional challenges for school administrators. “If it is not outlined, I am going to get challenged on every situation,” Dennis said. “To some degree, you need to have some sort of standard.”
Goodin also addressed concerns circulating on social media about cheer uniforms, explaining that cheerleaders do not wear their uniforms throughout the school day.
“They change into it before the pep rally and take it off after the pep rally,” she said.
Near the end of discussion, Chairman Jones cautioned against making permanent policy changes based solely on administrators’ frustrations and encouraged to continue exploring alternatives.
“It is not always the best thing to develop a policy out of frustration,” Chairman Jones said. “Let’s go back to the drawing board. Let’s kick it back to the administrators because understanding the concerns of parents, maybe they can come back and have a better solution.”
Because the dress code is part of the district’s Code of Conduct, any change would require an amendment.
No formal action was taken Tuesday night. However, Dennis said he will return with a proposed amendment to the student Code of Conduct at a special called meeting expected in early August. If approved, the district would allow leggings while implementing additional guidelines governing how they may be worn on campus.
