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Ms. Kayla Swan't Class wearing Hope Hall attire

Hope Hall Dress Code

The purpose of our dress code policy is to focus students’ attention on academics, social growth and moral development, Hope Hall adopted a student-friendly dress code. Dress codes allow for professional appearance as well as student anonymity regarding socio-economic status and designer trends. It allows for looking beyond the “cover” of a person’s appearance and seeing an individual for the unique being whom they are. For these reasons, Hope Hall has the dress code as listed below.

As part of the Hope Hall community, all students are required to perform daily hygiene and to dress in Hope Hall dress code at all times. Parents and students are fully responsible to ensure that Hope Hall dress code standards are being followed daily. Students who are found to be in violation of Hope Hall dress code standards will be made to alter their appearance by changing, removing, covering or replacing the non-dress code items. If the violation(s) to dress code standards are beyond remediation, parents will be called and asked to bring dress code-compliant clothes to school for their child. Students will not be allowed to return to class until proper dress code clothes have been supplied. Students who have repeat violations (more than 2 violations within a 5 week time-period) will be subject to disciplinary action, up to, and including in-school suspension during which they will be supplied with classwork and assignments, but will not be in class.

Dress Code for Students Grades 3 – 12

Slacks:  Students must wear plain black, navy or khaki uniform-style dress slacks.

Shorts:  Students may wear plain black, navy or khaki walking shorts (knee-length) or capri style pants during September, May and June.

Skirts:  Students may wear plain black, navy or khaki skirts. No skirt may be higher than one inch above the knee.

Shirts:   Students must wear the official Hope Hall polo shirt (long or short sleeves) or t-shirt.  Any t-shirt, turtleneck or long sleeve shirts worn under the Hope Hall shirt must be plain black, white, or navy with no visible writing or pictures.

Sweater: Plain white, black or navy cardigans may be worn over the Hope Hall dress-code shirt.

Sweatshirts: Only the official Hope Hall Sweatshirt may be worn over the Hope Hall dress code shirt.

Shoes:  Students may wear SNEAKERS OR SHOES, which are safe and comfortable.  Students are not allowed to wear high heeled shoes, flip-flops, slippers or shoes without backs (slip-ons).

Physical Education:  Appropriate athletic clothing and sneakers must be worn, or the student will not be allowed to participate in P.E. class.  This will have an impact on his/her grade and New York State requires students to have credit for physical education classes.  Please contact your child’s P.E. teacher with questions.

Accessories:  Earrings which are POSTS OR VERY SMALL HOOPS may be worn.  The school is NOT RESPONSIBLE for missing accessories.  No other accessories are permitted.

Makeup:  In 7th through 12th grades only, students may wear light blush and/or light lipstick.  Eye-shadow should be of a natural color such as light brown, pink or gray.  Anyone wearing an excessive amount of make-up will be asked to wash it off in the Nurse’s Office.

Hair: At Hope Hall, “professional” is the norm so students’ hair must be kept neat, appropriate and professional in appearance.

Facial Hair: Facial hair must be kept neat, well-groomed, shaped and professional.

 

Purse and Bag Policy

Grades 9 – 12

School backpacks, bags and purses are to be placed in each student’s locker during school hours. This requirement assists the school to comply with Health and Safety Standards by preventing spinal injury from overweight bags, avoiding fire hazards due to limited traffic patterns, and avoiding accidents from loose hanging shoulder straps.  Additionally, this ban is designed to overcome a range of problems associated with theft and/or hidden contraband.  Because of these concerns, all bags must remain in the student’s locker.  Due to locker dimensions, Hope Hall recommends hand-sized purses (no more than 8 inches in length, 5 inches in width and 3 inches wide) and flexible backpacks (avoid backpacks on wheels and bags with reinforced bottoms/sides that do not collapse for easy storage).

**Due to locker locations, girls in grades 6 – 8 can carry their purses with them. All other rules regarding the purse and bag policy will remain the same.

Dress Down Day Privileges

On announced dress down days students pay a nominal fee (which is usually forwarded towards a fundraising event or a school spirit celebration) for the privilege of not wearing the regular dress code. If a student or parent is concerned with his/her wardrobe choices on a dress down day, they can ask his/her Principal prior to wearing it.

When dressing down, students may wear:

  • A loose fitting sleeved shirt/top, sweatshirt, with appropriate words/pictures (one layer must have a crew or banded neckline which comes to the neck-line collar bones)
  • Jeans in good condition, cargo pants, nylon sweat pants, warm-ups/wind pants, or capris are also acceptable
  • Scarves may be worn
  • Gym shoes, boots, and sandals with straps are acceptable
  • All shirts must either be tucked in or overlap the waistband at all times; exposed mid-drifts or sagging pants are not allowed
  • Shorts are allowed during the acceptable seasonal timeline (September, May & June)
  • Skinny pants as long as the shirt extends to cover up the posterior (bottom)
  • If a skirt is worn, it should be at least knee length and loose fitting. Short or tight fitting skirts are not appropriate.

Students are NOT allowed to wear:

  • Pajama/lounge pants, leggings/tights, or yoga pants
  • Jeans with rips, cuts or tears
  • Low-cut top worn without a crew or banded neckline under-layer
  • Shirts with inappropriate words/pictures and cannot have any cuts, rips, or tears
  • Sweatshirt hoods over the head while in class
  • Flip flops or other non-strapped foot wear
  • Tank-tops or other spaghetti strapped shirts or dresses
  • Skinny jeans with a top that does not cover the posterior

Violations to Dress Down Day:

Families will be notified, via Communication folder handouts, if there are any school-wide events where alternatives to dress code are acceptable. When students are dressed down, the expectation remains that their behavior will stay professional. Inappropriate behavior while dressed down will result in the student being added to the RED LIST.   When a student is placed on the RED LIST he/she is not allowed to participate in any dress-down opportunities/events until he/she has earned back the privilege to dress down. Positive behavior in all of their classes will possibly earn them the privileged of being off of the Red List. Students are encouraged to advocate to the Principal for steps to get off of the Red List.

Red List

Those students who do not participate in dress down days are expected to wear regular dress code. Students who are found to be in violation of Hope Hall dress down code standards will be made to alter their appearance by changing, removing, covering or replacing the non-dress down code items. If the violation(s) to dress down code standards are beyond remediation, parents will be called and asked to bring dress down code-compliant clothes to school for their child. Students will not be allowed to return to class until proper dress down code clothes have been supplied. Students who have repeat violations will be subject to disciplinary action.