Cheer Skirts Break Cal High Dress Code

The short orange-and-black skirts donned by Cal High cheerleaders for decades are no longer allowed on campus during school hours. 

That's because they violate the school's dress code, which requires skirts and shorts to rest no more than 5 inches above the knee.

Cheerleaders still can don the pleated uniforms at sporting events and after school, but the longstanding tradition of going to class or jazzing up rallies in their game-day best is over.

"It's a break from tradition," said Kate MacLeod, 17, a Cal High senior and cheerleader for eight years. "The difference for us, really, is just that we have to change after school instead of showing up already dressed for the game."

The dress code issue came to a head around the start of the school year when students, sweltering from the fall heat wave, were showing up to school in short shorts and skimpy tops, said San Ramon Valley Unified School District spokesman Terry Koehne.

After some parent complaints and feedback from school staff, Cal High Principal Mark Corti decided to enforce the dress code.

That decision sparked a conversation about what sports uniforms are appropriate to wear during school hours, Koehne said. And since dress codes are unique to each campus, the district now will look into ways to bring uniformity to its 35 schools.

"It's something that's an ongoing conversation for us at the district," he said. "We're going to look at ways to standardize dress code across the district."

The crackdown at Cal High upset some cheerleaders' parents, who paid nearly $300 for the custom-tailored uniforms at the start of the school year and dislike the idea of their children having fewer chances to wear them.

"For me, it's just a matter of tradition," said Suzann Coite, whose daughter, 14-year-old Olivia Coite, is on the Cal High cheer team. "I think that it's a shame that what this … dress code is saying is that no longer can traditions of the school be carried out."

The uniform hasn't changed much over the decades, said Cal High cheer coach and adviser Rebecca Rioux: a pleated skirt that varies in length, depending on the girl's height; snug exercise shorts; a skin-tight turtleneck undershirt; and a black vest emblazoned with orange letters that spell out "Grizzlies," Cal's mascot.

The girls may expose a little midriff when they stretch their arms, but it's no more "skimpy" than some volleyball shorts or a tennis skirt, 16-year-old Cal High cheerleader Jaydee Marek pointed out.

And there's a reason the skirts are as short as they are, Rioux noted. With all the kicks, flips and splits in a typical routine, a skirt any longer would get in the way.

Rioux said she supports the school's decision to enforce the dress code, even though she didn't see a problem with her team being allowed to wear its uniforms in class.

"They still get to wear their skirts at a game," said Rioux, a Cal High graduate who spent her high-school years on the cheer team, wearing the same uniform. "So it's a change, but it's not as big a deal as I think it seemed at first."

Koehne said to expect the topic of sports uniforms and dress codes to come up in the district in the near future, in part thanks to the debate at Cal High.

“We’re looking at this as an opportunity to address this issue," he said.

In the meantime, Rioux's team seems accepting of the newly enforced rules. After class recently, the girls rehearsed their routine in shorts much shorter than their mid-thigh-length cheer skirts.

"When we practice, it's after class anyway," said Cal High junior and longtime cheerleader Christine Santia, 16. "The rules don't apply after 3."