Throughout the year, Archbishop Carroll has occasions for students to ditch their uniforms and ‘dress down’ in other outfits that follow a prescribed theme — but students don’t always follow the rules, which leads to a fun activity turning into a disciplinary issue.
Some dress down days come with the requirement that students pay $2, or $5 for a dress down week, which is donated to charity. For example, a dress down day in November helped raise money to buy Thanksgiving Day meals for those experiencing financial hardship. Some dress down days are simply to increase student spirit without a fundraising component. Announcements about dress down days and the requirements for them are sent out through email and social media, and are announced over the loudspeaker in school.
The student council is in charge of setting up the dress down day themes for homecoming, Catholic Schools Week, and holidays as well as for fundraisers. Some themes have included dressing like country club members and dressing like babies. Every dress down day comes with the option to wear Carroll pride gear — clothing with the Carroll logo on it — or the school uniform. If the dress down day is a fundraiser, students can wear their uniforms rather than make the donation.
Students who don’t follow the dress down day rules, or who fail to make a donation when one is required for dressing down, get written up by teachers for a dress code violation, which comes with a demerit. An accumulation of demerits can result in weekday detention, Saturday detention, loss of extracurricular privileges, discipline contracts, and disciplinary summer school.
Most of the Carroll community participates in dress down days.
“Dressing down is always something to look forward to,” senior Anthony Auteri said. “I can take a break from wearing the uniform and be more comfortable, and wear something different to school.”
However, some students say they find it difficult to pick out an outfit that matches the theme.
“I always have to ask the day before what people are going to wear,” senior Ruthie Kozak said.
Some teachers find these dress down days frustrating when students don’t follow the rules, especially because students have the option to wear their uniform or clothing with the Carroll logo.
“When students don’t follow the rules for dress down days, I am angry, because it shows me that the students I care about are being disrespectful,” said Mrs. Diane Gimpel, who teaches senior English. “The school is under no obligation to offer dress down days, so when dress down days are offered, students should be grateful for them and respect the rules. Those who don’t follow the rules appear to me to be ungrateful. Those who don’t like the rules for dress down days can wear their uniforms or Carroll pride gear instead. I write up students who don’t follow the dress down day rules or any rules because they have asked for it by their behavior. They are flouting rules and they are showing they have no respect for our community, especially for their friends and classmates who follow the rules. It doesn’t make me happy to write demerits in such instances, because I am disappointed by the behavior of students I care about, but I don’t feel guilty or sad writing them, either.”
