Henrico director defends dress-code changes as students press for clearer rules

Will Noel, director of disciplinary review for Henrico County Public Schools, said the district removed gender-specific and culturally specific language from its dress code and expects principals to apply the code consistently, during a Student Voices session with students Katie Cashwell and Shannon Nortel.

"We've taken all the gender specific language out of the dress code," Noel said, adding that the district's code of student conduct "must be implemented with fidelity." He said that once the code is approved by the school board it becomes policy that schools must follow.

The session highlighted how students and administrators view enforcement differently. "It does really feel kind of the eyes are on women a lot of times," said Katie Cashwell, the Student Voices moderator, describing how midriffs or straps can feel gendered in effect even when the language has been removed. "I have really long arms... I'm still walking through the school feeling like, you know, I could get dress coded just because I have these long legs," she said.

Shannon Nortel, a rising senior at Glen Ellyn High School, said measurement-based rules can be hard to apply in practice. "It can be hard for teachers to call out students if they're wearing shorter shorts, but they have short arms," Nortel said, describing inconsistent outcomes when teachers use thumb- or finger-length rules.

Noel acknowledged the difficulty and said administrators do not want teachers to act as "dress-code police" over marginal differences. He recounted earlier enforcement examples to show parity: if shorts do not extend past the tips of the fingers, the district treated them as a violation and required the student to change. "If their shorts didn't come past the tips of their fingers, then it was a violation," he said.

On specific categories of clothing, Noel said the district removed some items from the code when they were gender specific, but left in prohibitions against clothing that clearly reveals undergarments. "Obviously, if you're wearing a bra and it's lace and you're showing it, we don't want that," he said. He also cited safety-based restrictions: slippers and shoes with wheels previously were banned for safety reasons.

Noel distinguished sweatpants from pajamas: he said sweatpants are generally allowed while garments sold specifically as pajamas are not. Principals decide whether an item violates the code, and teachers are expected to escalate unclear cases rather than impose suspensions at the classroom level. "If there's a question of, are these pajama pants or are these sweatpants? ... that's up to the teacher's discretion and then they would go to the principal and then the principal would make that decision," Noel said.

He also noted limits on consequences for unrelated rules: "you can't be suspended for solely a cell phone violation," he said, explaining that discipline escalates only if behavior becomes defiant.

Noel closed by asking students to share concerns about the code during the year so the district can consider revisions. "As you go through this year... if you see things in the code that you feel should be addressed, please reach out to me," he said.

The Student Voices segment did not include any formal board actions; Noel framed the conversation as explanation and invitation for feedback rather than an announcement of new policy changes.