The results are in: At least 79 percent of parents who filled out the online survey asking about a stricter dress code say the current policy is fine.

Sippican School Principal Evelyn Rivet reported to the Marion School Committee Jan. 4 that 47 out of 227 responding parents said they found a problem with the dress code.

The School Committee asked Rivet during its Dec. 7 meeting to have the Sippican School Council – a committee of parents, teachers and community members – circulate a survey to collect parents’ thoughts on the current dress code.

Members Christine Winters and Michelle Ouellette opened the dress code discussion to the School Committee in November.

Both committee members said they had been approached by parents who were concerned with their children being subject to fashion-focused bullying regarding which students could afford high-end labels and those who could not.

In November, Winters suggested to the committee that they, and the school community, look into updating the current dress code by requiring all students to wear khakis and collared shirts.

The survey asked two questions: “Would you like to see a strict dress code implemented at Sippican School?”; “If no, would you like to see the basic dress code modified?”

Of the 368 families that have a student at Sippican School, 227 responded to the survey.
Ouellette said she found the results to be misleading by using the word “strict” in the wording of the questions.

“The word strict makes a negative connotation that may have thrown people off,” Ouellette said.

Ouellette said she also had concerns with the survey’s accuracy because it did not have any limitations on how many times one person can submit a response.

“It’s possible that many people double-voted on the survey so I don’t think this is valid,” Ouellette said. “I think this is still open to discussion.”

Winters agreed and suggested an alternative survey in which responses might be restricted to one per household computer to limit the possibility of one household entering several responses.

Committee Chairman Brad Gordon said the majority had spoken.

“Whether or not it’s valid, it’s their response,” Gordon said.

“That is the question we asked and this is the response we got. These results show overwhelmingly that 79 percent say there is no need to change the dress code.”

Rivet said she would meet with parents who did express concerns with the dress code in the hopes of resolving any issues that may be present.

The School Committee members said they would wait on any further action on the dress code while Rivet addresses those concerns with the parents.