Due to Robinson principal Robert Bhoolai’s medical leave, the school is currently hosting a new interim principal, Dave Brown, for the rest of the 2021-2022 school year. Although Brown is new, he is wasting no time in implementing his own set of rules, including his enforcement of the Hillsborough County Dress Code Policy.

Brown was unsatisfied with the lack of enforcement of Robinson’s dress code, so he is coming down hard on the students with dress code checks. If a student is caught violating the dress code, they are immediately sent to the office where they are given a referral and the chance to cover up; if they refuse, they will be sent to In-school Suspension (ISS) for one day. Upon their second offense, students will be sent to ISS for two days, on their third offense they will go to ISS for three days and finally on their fourth offense, students will be suspended from school for disobedience.

The enforced dress code requires shoes and prevents students from wearing shirts that fully expose shoulders, midriff or the mid-chest region. It also requires all bottoms to be fingertip length and does not allow: inappropriate rips in clothing, head coverings or garment that suggest vulgar wording or graphics. The full list can be read from the district’s student handbook on pages 51 and 52.

Although these requirements have always been in place, they have yet to be strictly enforced by the staff and administration. Brown believes that it is the school’s duty to enforce the rules that the district has put in place.

“[It’s] my job to enforce the rules and policies of the school and the district, so that’s what I do,” Brown said.

The student population has not had the best reaction to administration’s new rules. Many students openly object to the dress code with the belief that it unfairly singles out female students.

“I think the strict enforcement of the dress code is randomly timed and somewhat unrealistic. Some of the rules, such as having shorts that go past the fingertips, are mainly targeted towards the female students,” said Isabel Alonso (’24).

Whether the students approve or not, administration is trying to fully implement and enforce Robinson’s dress code policy.