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Low-Hanging Pants Shouldn't Be Lawmaker's Concern

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 26, 2008

Uniform Policy Needed

Regarding "Sagging Pants Bill Doesn't Hold Up" (Our Opinion, Jan. 20):

After reading this I had to agree that "fashion is not a legislative issue, in school or out." However, the caption under the photo of the young man wearing baggy jeans and a hoodie was way off the mark.

Baggy pants are definitely a law enforcement issue. A student wearing oversized pants and shirts can hide an array of weapons. I saw a training video for law enforcement officers that showed a male pull 10 guns out of his pants and one of the them was a sawed-off shotgun. You could not tell that he was hiding these weapons under his clothes.

Forget policy that says to secure pants at the waist. I say uniforms should be worn in every school, in every grade.

NATALIE GOMILLION

Land O' Lakes

Can't Count On Parents

The thought that parents are going to be responsible in dressing their students is quickly dismissed if you visit a local mall or a county school. Granted, there are many responsible parents, but the ones allowing their children to roam the hallways of our schools with droopy drawers can no longer be considered a minority. The fact these offending students are allowed to leave home by the parent is just a symptom of a larger problem. Parents have mistakenly delegated this problem to the schools and the schools are not doing any better enforcing policy than some parents are at assuming their parental responsibility.

Given that the negligent parents are not about to change and the schools are not enforcing policy leads me to believe the problem will persist. Sadly, unless the Hillsborough County School system does a better job than the parents are doing, we may just have to get used to it.

DICK LOKAR

Dover

Keep Them In School

I think state Sen. Gary Siplin needs to look at the whole picture shown by these silly children. As a layperson, I think first they just do it for attention - which is apparently succeeding. It also needs to be remembered that the majority of kids are only followers. They are copying those they admire, poor role models though they may be, and it is only a passing fad which will be followed by others when it dies off.

Next, they do it to be defiant and to have control of some aspect of their lives. It seems this is also working. However, in my humble opinion, the thing uppermost in some of these young folks' minds is to get kicked out of school so they won't have to attend. Bingo! They will have beaten the system. If this law gets enacted, we will have far too many uneducated youngsters roaming the streets of our fair state with nothing to do, and their pants will still be sagging.

Florida's position in the country's educational lineup is poor enough without deliberately aggravating the situation. If these children - and that is what they are, regardless of their ages or size - manage to convince lawmakers that suspension or expulsion is the only answer, everyone loses.

A far better solution would be to subject them to "in school suspension" with any and all privileges removed. They should be in a separate class area, away from the rest of their schoolmates and closely monitored, but most important of all, be expected to keep up with all their class work. We need to educate them, not discard them.

JUDITH HINKLE

Sebring

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