The TDSB Student Dress Policy applies to all TDSB schools to establish fair and equitable standards and practices for student dress across the Board.
The policy (effective September 2019) was developed to provide students with learning environments that are safe, equitable, welcoming and inclusive and recognizes that decisions about dress reflect individual expression of identity, socio-cultural norms, and economic factors and are personal and important factor’s to a person’s well-being and health.
What changed in the policy?
Some of the key changes included:
- Renaming the policy to Student Dress Policy (formerly the Appropriate Dress Policy)
- Creating a system-wide dress policy to establish fair and equitable standards in all schools
- Ensuring the student dress code is based on the equity-centred standard and framework consistent with the Board’s commitments
- Focusing on student voice, impact and engagement in development, review and revisions
- Ensuring student engagement in any uniform policy development as well as an equal right to vote in any uniform policy decision
- Enhancing knowledge and awareness of assumptions or stereotypes that are based on or reinforce bias, prejudice and discrimination and may lead to discriminatory application of dress codes
- Providing a continuum of choices for enforcement to remedy any inappropriate dress
The policy was approved by the Board of Trustees in May 2019 and came into effect in September 2019.