Metro

School’s strict dress code nets 200 detentions and a rebellion

A strict dress code introduced by a Staten Island public high school principal has led to the detention of 200 kids — and a rebellion among some students and parents.

The students — 90 percent of them girls — were detained by the fashion police in the last two weeks because they wore tank tops or short-shorts to beat the heat at their un-air-conditioned school.

Tottenville HS junior Ashley Silberberg wore a T-shirt that bared 2 inches of midriff on Sept. 5, the second day of school, when the mercury topped 87 degrees.

She and 100 other stunned offenders were promptly hauled to the dean’s office and then the auditorium, while their parents were called to drop off “appropriate” clothing.

If parents were working or unreachable, kids were forced to change into school-logo gym shorts and a T-shirt. The next day, 100 more kids were similarly punished
at the academically well-regarded, 4,000-student school.

“I was, like, flipping out, cursing mad, and I said, like, ‘You know I’m not gonna wear this!’ ” Silberberg said of her gym clothes. “I took it off as soon as I walked out.”

The new, no-nonsense policy, dubbed “Dress for Success” on Pages 32 and 33 of the student handbook, is a “local decision” made “at the discretion of the principal,” said a city Department of Education spokeswoman.

For new Principal Joseph Scarmato, who did not return calls, dressing for success means 15 staffers scouring the arriving student body every morning for exposed skin.

High schooler Rebecca Brunetta, 17, is openly defying the school’s new dress code.J.C. Rice

The code doesn’t just cover tank tops and short-shorts, but miniskirts, leggings, skinny jeans, headbands, halter tops, sweats, hats, hoodies, sunglasses and more.

Last week, the principal began meeting with parents about dress-code enforcement, said DOE officials, adding that parents signed off on the handbook before the new school year began.

District 31 Superintendent Aimee Horowitz, who oversees Tottenville, said in a statement to The Post that skimpy clothing is banned because it “creates a distraction, is dangerous or interferes with the learning and teaching process.”

Some parents are outraged and say the policy has backfired.

“These students are rebelling to the point of basically wearing undergarments,” said father of three Vincent Candelieri, 59, who is considering a class-action lawsuit against the school. “Scarmato is a total control freak.”

Defiant junior Rebecca Brunetta, 17, says she’s been in violation of the new dress code every day.

“[The monitor] pulled me [aside] and he said, ‘Go to the dean’s office,’ and I said, ‘I left my sweater upstairs — my bad,’ ” she told The Post. “So he tells me, ‘You have to go to the dean’s office.’ ”

Some parents support the new dress code.

“The girls wear these little booty shorts that you can see the crease of their buttocks,” said mom Sasha German, 34. “They look like they’re training to work in strip clubs.”