CARGO-STYLE PANTS SUBJECT OF LAWSUIT TEEN, MOTHER AWAIT TRANSFER RULING, DRESS CODE WAIVER IN LAUSD CASE.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

WOODLAND HILLS - A judge is expected to consider Thursday whether a 13-year-old boy should be returned to Parkman Middle School and allowed to wear cargo-style pants in violation of the dress code there.

The boy, Woodland Hills resident Damien Stickler-Gamm, and his mother, Christine Gamm, have sued the Los Angeles Unified School District, saying the teen-ager was transferred without their permission and should be granted a waiver from the dress code.

School officials said Gamm asked for her son to be transferred from Parkman.

Parkman has banned cargo pants because students could conceal weapons and contraband in the pockets, Principal Michael Bennett wrote in court documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

But Damien contends they are not cargo pants, according to his attorney, Esteban Gallegos.

``And if they are, they are similar in style to the type of pants worn by a number of other students perhaps more than two dozen,'' Gallegos said.

Gamm and her son declined to comment.

Bennett said Damien was held to the same standard as other children.

``If they come to school inappropriately dressed, we give them loaners. Do some kids slip through the cracks? With 1,200 kids, I'm sure some do,'' Bennett said.

Gallegos said state law permits parents waivers from the dress code. But LAUSD attorney Mary Kay Jackson said waivers are for school uniforms, not for items banned under a dress code.

In the lawsuit, Damien claims teachers and school counselors harassed him for wearing beige Calvin Klein shorts ``styled similar to cargo pants.''

``These shorts, which are popular amongst kids interested in surfing, are not loose or baggy as the cargo pants,'' he wrote.

Bennett wrote in court documents that Damien wore the shorts several times, despite being told they violated the code.

``He was repeatedly sent to detention because of his defiance and insolence to teachers and administrators - he apparently repeatedly stated that his father had told him he did not have to obey school authorities,'' Bennett wrote.

The lawsuit contends Damien was a B-student at Parkman who played basketball and the violin, and never got into trouble. He had made many friends at Parkman and doesn't want to go to another school.

At a meeting with Bennett, the boy's parents said they ``did not feel their son should be following the dress code because we are a seven-digit income family and this (pointing to her son) is not some inner-city scum,'' Bennett wrote in court documents.

Gallegos said the parents deny making the statements.

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Photo: Thirteen-year-old Damian Stickler-Gamm's cargo-style pants are considered a violation of Parkman Middle School's dress code. The shorts above are the ones the school has an issue with.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer