Schools crack down on teens' clothes, gadgets

SARASOTA COUNTY - The wardrobe inspections start with an administrator's voice crackling over the loudspeaker in every classroom at Sarasota High School.

Everybody stands up, girls tugging on their too-short shorts to make them look longer, boys pulling up their baggy pants, hoping they will not catch the eye of the teacher strolling down the aisle.

"They look for the tiniest things," said senior Jennie Roosa, 17. "Then you either get sent home to change or your mom has to bring you clothes to change into."

Wardrobe checks, cell phone confiscations and attendance enforcement are all on the rise in Sarasota County high schools this year.

Administrators say tougher enforcement will help limit distractions and, ultimately, boost test scores because students will spend more time paying attention to the teacher, and less time texting each other on the sly.

"If you set expectations and you set high expectations, the students will rise to them," said Steve Cantees, director of high schools for Sarasota County.

Students, who have been allowed to slide on some of the rules in the past, are a little more skeptical. Last year, Sarasota High students could use their cell phones during lunch and between classes.

But not anymore. After confiscating more than 1,000 phones last year from students who broke the rule, administrators adopted the district policy: Students can bring phones to school, but must keep them in their backpacks at all times.

Jennie Roosa's teacher seized her phone when she took it out to check the time. She got the phone back at the end of class, but the next infraction will mean a trip to the office.

"It's terrible," said senior Leland Gordon, 17. "Even if it falls out of your pocket they'll take it."

Other Sarasota High students say hardly a class period passes without a teacher confiscating a phone.

And the mandatory uniform checks are only part of the stepped-up dress code enforcement.

Some teenagers report seeing administrators stop students on sidewalks and send them home to change clothes, before they even set foot on campus.

Riverview High administrators have been casing the hallways between classes looking for cell phones, iPods and baseball caps.

And students at Riverview caught with too many unexcused absences could lose their parking privileges. No parking pass means they have to leave their own cars at home and take the bus or bum a ride from their mother or another student.

"That really gets their attention," said Riverview Principal Linda Nook.

While some students may think the new focus is strict, administrators have high hopes that the initiative will pay big dividends when it comes to student achievement.

Sound crazy? Not to Manatee High School Principal Bob Gagnon, who earned a reputation as a disciplinarian his first year when he reprimanded one student for dying her hair green and two others for wearing bikini tops to a football game.

Gagnon also got tough on students to clean up in the cafeteria and limited where on campus they could spend their free periods.

When the school saw its letter grade rise from a D to an A, Gagnon credited his focus on order.

"Bottom line is you set rules and students are more apt to pay attention," Gagnon said. "If they listen to you, they're more likely to learn. That's how you raise student achievement."

Some Sarasota principals say they are already seeing a difference in the atmosphere on campus.

Booker High Assistant Principal Reena Oliver took three phones the first day of classes. The rest of the week she did not have to take any.

Now, Riverview's Nook can now just point to her head to prompt students to remove the notorious baseball caps.

One administrator told the district that he wrote up 20 students for dress code violations the first day of school. The next day he had half as many.

And at Sarasota High, the number of unexcused absences each day is about 40 students lower than for the same time last year, a drop of 25 percent.

"We have hit it really hard these first weeks of the school year," said Principal Jeff Hradek. "So far, the atmosphere has been quite productive."