Walking through the hallways, it’s possible to point out several people wearing headbands of various widths and colors. In previous years, they’ve rarely been an issue, or rather no one seemed to get dress coded for them. Recently, the administration has seemed to crack down on students’ headband wear.

“I was walking from the gym to lunch and I was walking through the courtyard and [an administrator] told me and my friend to take our headbands off,” junior Nia Wilson said. “My friend was upset about it and [asked if we could] please speak to Mr. Bailey about it because he’s the head of the school, and [the administrator] said we could do that after we took our headbands off. He said something about headbands being part of a gang, like apparently there’s a Nike headband gang.”

Girls are not the only students being dress coded for this activity. Boys are also being asked to remove their headbands.

“I was going to the pep rally and I was wearing my red headband to keep my hair out of my face and [an administrator] told me to take it off,” freshman Oscar Hernandez said. “I asked why [I had to take it off] and he said that we were not allowed to wear headbands because of gang related [activities]. I told him that I needed it to pull my hair back, but he told me to use a ponytail holder instead.”

In the student handbook, it is stated under student conduct that “headgear of any kind at any time in the buildings or hallways, including bandannas, head rags, headbands, or towels of any type” are not allowed, as some are signs of gangs and gang activity. However, Principal Brad Bailey has stated that there are exceptions.

“Headbands are fine if they help pull your hair back,” Bailey said. “If it’s to pull around your neck or for decorations and everything else, then that’s something that we would be addressing [as a dress code violation].”

Nevertheless, discerning whether a student is wearing a headband to hold their hair back or whether a student is using one as a gang symbol is difficult and unclear to administrators.

“Headbands are one of those issues that you have to weigh,” Bailey said. “If someone’s [using it to pull their hair back] and that’s the whole purpose of wearing the headband, then it’s perfectly fine [for a student to wear one]. It depends if it could be taken as a threatening activity. It’s up to interpretation. If it causes a disruption to the school, that’s kind of our basis on the issue. If people come up and pull on the headbands or if they’re causing an issue, then it’s disrupting the school.”

So for whether students are allowed to wear headbands to school depends on the usage of the object.

“I would say the overall point is, if the headband is used to pull your hair back or to keep your hair out of your eyes, then it’s perfectly fine,” Bailey said.