09-03-2025
Exclusive: Girls are overly targeted by Clovis Unified student dress code. Here's the data
Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email tips@
Kiny Holapatiphone and her friend were walking across the Buchanan High School campus on a crisp fall afternoon when they were stopped by a male administrator who noticed her sweater.
The Buchanan High senior wore the sweater often to school for the past three years — including earlier in the fall semester — without drawing any attention from school officials. But that afternoon, she said she was cited by the administrator for violating Clovis Unified School District's dress code because her sweater, which slipped while walking, exposed her shoulder.
'Honestly, my shoulder wasn't even really showing,' Holapatiphone said. 'When my friend saw him, she pulled up her shirt a little bit.'
The interaction with the administrator left Holapatiphone confused. Adding to her frustration was the lingering feeling that educators and administrators don't hold male students to the same level of scrutiny as girls.
'If a guy gets dress-coded, it's because he wears pajama pants at school,' she said.
Holapatiphone's suspicion was not groundless. Data from Clovis Unified obtained by The Fresno Bee through public records requests show that enforcement of the district's dress code disproportionately targets female students.
In the fall semester, female students accounted for 81% of the 3,390 dress code citations issued by administrators and educators. In the 2023-24 school year, girls made up 77% of dress code citations, up from 74% in 2022-23.
Clovis Unified's strict dress code, which has been in place since 1975, for generations has drawn strong opinions among students, parents and district staff. The code has been amended in recent years to allow boys, for instance, to wear long hair, though several of its original rules remain in place.
Officials say the district's high student achievement is tied to the dress code, which is seen as a source of pride and a distinct part of the 'Clovis way of life' for some longtime residents and alumni. Clovis Unified says adherence to the dress code helps 'prepare and equip students to be successful in life after high school.'
However, the stark disparities in enforcement seem to reaffirm long-held concerns from some parents and students that dress code enforcement is overly punitive toward female students, making them feel uncomfortable at schools and harder to focus on learning.
In the 2022-23 school year, the district issued 5,421 citations, which rose to 6,370 citations in the following year. Last semester, administrators and educators issued 3,390 citations to students, indicating the district is on track to exceed last year's citation count.
Students have been cited for violating the dress code as early as kindergarten, but the citations noticeably rise once students enter intermediate schools. Students in seventh through ninth grades, most of them girls, receive the most citations of all grades.
The majority of the citations are for first- and second-time violators with minor offenses that do not require a change of clothing to return to class. No student has been suspended or expelled in recent years for violating the dress code, according to the district.
District spokesperson Kelly Avants said in December that the district's policy makes no distinction based on gender. The school district often reminds parents and students of its dress code and that they should expect schools to enforce the policy.
Because of the district's frequent outreach to families, 'the large majority of our students choose to follow the dress code and never lose class time or face any disciplinary consequences,' Avants said. She attributed the discrepancy in dress code violations between girls and boys to current fashion trends.
'Past fashion trends for males (such as baggy pants) would likely have shown the reverse,' she said. 'Many types of dress code violations are able to be addressed on the spot with a warning, hats that are out of compliance or logoed sports gear worn as an overgarment can be fixed with a warning and therefore may not result in a recorded violation.'
Avants said district leaders review the dress code policy multiple times throughout the year and discuss how to ensure consistent enforcement. The latest version of the policy went into effect in January 2022.
Cierra Raine Sorin, a Fresno State sociology professor who studies gender inequalities, said the district's dress code places a greater burden on female students.
'All teenagers feel insecure about their bodies, but the restrictions that we place on the female body in our culture start from a very young age and really amplify as girls make that transition into teenagehood and young womanhood,' Sorin said. 'What they're wearing is made for their gender, but the school says that's not appropriate. That's a lot more work for girls to have to figure out what's appropriate.'
All but four of the two dozen female Clovis Unified high-school students who spoke with The Bee said they've been cited for dress code violations.
Mora Young, a Clovis High freshman who's received dress code violations, said that her male peers who are out of dress code are rarely cited by administrators. One boy, she said, frequently wears a tank top prohibited by the dress code to school. Some male students wear pants that sag so low they expose the logo of their underwear, she said, without drawing scrutiny from administrators.
'I literally saw them having their jeans all the way down to their knees,' Young said. 'But if I have my jeans down, that's a problem.'
Liana Leal, a Clovis West freshman, said she received a citation for wearing shorts at the start of the school year. Her friend, Alondra Ruiz, was also cited for a violation that week for wearing a shirt 'showing an inch of skin,' according to Ruiz.
'They show more attention to girls because they say that it distracts the guys,' Leal said.
Some parents are concerned that girls are more likely to lose class time because of the dress code. One parent, Brenna Hughes, started an online petition that garnered nearly 700 signatures in support of changing the dress code policy. Hughes worries that implicit bias from administrators may lead to more girls being mistakenly cited for dress code violations.
Hughes said a school administrator dress-coded her daughter's friend by repeatedly blowing a whistle at the girl across the quad. Her daughter told Hughes it was loud and disruptive, drawing nearby students' attention toward the girl.
Her daughter's friend was wearing a jean skirt, and she was in a hurry to use the bathroom, according to an email Hughes wrote to district administrators.
'Instead of yelling and harassing girls for hiding from you, maybe you should think about the toxic environment you are creating at school for these young girls,' Hughes wrote of the incident.
Hughes asked the district for data on the instructional time students miss after they're cited for a dress code violation, though the district said it doesn't keep track of such information.
Students cited for a dress code violation must check in at their site's student resource center. Students who must change can either choose from clothes offered by the schools, such as spirit wear, or wait for parents to bring something for them to change into if they don't already have other clothes on hand.
Avants, the district's spokesperson, said the district's practice is to not hold students out of class. 'The impact to instructional time should be kept to a minimum and typically involves a student being told to check in at the student resource center during passing period or break,' she said.
According to the district's data, most violations result in warnings and don't require changing clothes. Last semester, hundreds of violations resulted in some form of detention for students who were cited.
Clovis West sophomores Jaida Borsum and Laurita Orellana, said they felt embarrassed last semester after being cited for dress code violations.
Orellana was given a 'very long trainer shirt' to change into after she was cited for wearing a shirt that showed her stomach.
'It was just embarrassing. It made me feel uncomfortable in school, so I left,' Orellana said.
Borsum, who was dress-coded on the first day of school, said administrators dress-coded so many students that there was a 'whole line' of students waiting in the office, and she missed a portion of class.
'I was super late to my first period. It was embarrassing. I was already scared for the first day, as it is, I had to come in late,' she said.
Borsum said she felt singled out when she had to wear the school-issued outfit.
'It should be about education,' Borsum said. 'They make you just want to go home.'
Clovis Unified says its policy is evenly enforced across the district.
Avants said school leaders and staff at each site discuss the dress code multiple times throughout the year to ensure consistency in enforcement.
Still, some parents and students feel officials enforce the rules inconsistently.
Administrators at some schools appear to be more strict about the dress code. On the first day of the school year, for example, administrators at Alta Sierra Intermediate cited a dozen girls whose shorts were shorter than five inches.
Even within schools, some students say the level of dress code enforcement varies among teachers and administrators.
'You could wear something that could be out of dress code one day, and it was fine, then the next day, if a teacher sees you (wear the same clothes), they'll send you to the office,' said Christian Elizalde, a freshman at Clovis High. Elizalde said he received a dress code citation this year for wearing a jersey-like shirt.
Dilnoor Riar, a senior at Buchanan High, said teachers at the campus seem more focused on students' learning than dress code enforcement.
'I've had teachers tell us, 'Please don't dress like this, I don't want to have to dress code you. Personally, I don't agree with the dress code, but if a learning director walks in and sees that, then it will reflect on me,'' Riar said. 'Sometimes teachers don't really say anything, I think they're just fed up with it.'
However, the administrators who 'work in the main office and patrol the halls' appear more strict about enforcing the dress code, she said. Riar said her friend once wore a tank top and high-waisted pants to a football game. She was carrying something and the top exposed her midriff momentarily. The staff almost refused to let her watch the game, Riar said.
'I'm in a school that has 2,600 kids. I'll see kids walking around with three-inch long skirts, and people sometimes just don't notice,' Riar said. 'And then there will be a student who shows her knees a little bit too much when she bends, the administrators immediately come over and warn her. It doesn't really make sense. You never know when you're going to get dress-coded.'
Kristin Heimerdinger, a Buchanan High teacher who's taught in the district for 32 years, said the dress code policy has always been a heated topic of debate.
As a classroom teacher, she cares more about students' learning, mental health and wellbeing than enforcing the dress code, she said.
Teachers must pick their battles when it comes to dress code enforcement, Heimerdinger said. She noted that one of the reasons the district's strict dress code has remained in place for 50 years is because the community agrees that schools should have some level of control over students.
'You would find plenty of parents, and teachers, on both sides of the argument,' she said. 'I would say, you may not like it or not agree with it, that's just the rule you have to follow, that's what it is.'
