Daily Herald editorial

The vast majority of rules that govern middle school and high school students’ school days are handed down by adults — teachers, principals, school board members. It was a refreshing change this week when the school board approved a student-designed dress code for Ellis Middle School.

Pushing the boundaries of behavior, including how they dress, is the norm for middle school students. So a dress code is necessary. Most of the time, and at most schools, those codes are conceived and described by school administrators. Letting students do that work, as Ellis did this year, provides an excellent opportunity to create a code that is in line with students’ needs and expectations, and it’s a great chance for responsible students to step up and take charge of something that is important to them and all students.

We join school board members in saluting the student committee that developed Ellis’ new dress code, and we add praise for the administrators and school board that were willing to accept student input.