Weslaco Independent School District trustees and the district’s superintendent clashed at a workshop last week over what employees should be able to wear on campus.
Superintendent Dino Coronado said in an email to The Monitor on Wednesday that there have been no changes to the district’s dress code.
According to Trustee Jacky Sustaita, there has been some tightening of the district’s dress code that has left some employees at the district unhappy.
Sustaita did not respond to a request for comment on that dress code implementation, but based on her conversation with Coronado at a board workshop Wednesday, it relates to principals having some leeway in interpreting the code.
“If this is causing so much stress to our teachers, why do it?” she said.
Sustaita also criticized a lack of communication over the dress code.
“I’ve got screenshots of emails that go out. They’re very vague. It’s not black and white,” she said.
Superintendent Dino Coronado seemed fairly dismissive of those concerns. The dress code, he said, is a low priority given the district’s other concerns.
“Safety, security, COVID, the pandemic, vacancies, development, onboarding new employees, recruiting and marketing — and we’re gonna have a conversation about jeans? I’m sorry ma’am, but I don’t understand,” Coronado told Sustaita.
Coronado said his staff has talked about dress code, at length, and has talked about making it more professional. He said recommendations amount to allowing jeans once a week, mandating shoes be comfortable and practical and — especially — putting the initiative on dress code policies in the hands of campus principals.
“Now, if a principal says ‘I don’t want you to wear tennis shoes,’ I support the principal. They have every right to say I don’t want you to wear tennis shoes. That’s an administrative decision,” he said.
Vague communication on the dress code, Coronado said, can be intentionally vague and discretionary.
Sustaita was, comparatively, meek and sympathetic, though she bit back a bit saying dress code allowances could contribute to morale that would support asking more from teachers and potentially supporting a bond initiative.
That conversation ultimately spiraled into talk on compensation.
Coronado’s opinion on the dress code at Wednesday’s meeting ultimately found a stronger rebuttal in Trustee Jesse Trevino.
“At the end of the day, our staff are the ones teaching our kids,” he said. “They’re the ones in the classroom eight hours a day, they’re the ones there. So they gotta be comfortable.”
Trevino, in a roundabout way, agreed with Coronado. He said he felt like it’s something he shouldn’t be messing with.
“Remember. We hired you because you were an operations person, specialist for operations,” he said. “Our district was not broken with teachers or with low scores in campuses or anything like that. So all we can do there is improve and get better.”
