HART BOARD WIGGLES OUT OF COSTUME FLAP.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Hart district dance squads and their instructors, not the school board, will decide whether the dancers can show a little cleavage or a peek of bellybuttons.

After an hourlong hearing before the William S. Hart Union School District board Wednesday, a proposed new performance-attire policy died on a motion that failed to get a second.

At the same meeting, a 3-2 vote defeated a move to adopt an earlier set of attire guidelines, developed by Hart district principals last November - leaving the costuming decisions to instructors and teams.

More than a dozen parents of dance performers throughout the district descended on the meeting to oppose the measures.

``What's wrong with the navel?'' asked one father whose daughter is on the Valencia High dance squad. ``The navel is not sexual. What's wrong with the bellybutton? We see navels with piercings and tattoos every day, and nothing is said about it. We feel dance costumes are being attacked.''

Superintendent Robert C. Lee said administrators need at least minimal guidelines on paper if expected to act on any problems about costumes.

But board President Philip Ellis said principals already have wide authority to act.

``They have a capacity to make suggestions and dictate what needs to get done,'' he said.

A committee of parents, students and board members Patricia Hanrion and Dennis King drafted the attire policy between February and April, partly to address periodic concerns about costumes that some considered too revealing.

``It's trying to define what 'modesty' means,'' said King, who was not present but addressed the meeting by phone. ``It's to allow principals the final discretion.''

Among the standards: ``Bellybuttons may not be exposed while performing members are in a standing, nonactive position. Tops that reveal cleavage may not be worn.''

Also, ``all attire shall be reviewed and approved by the principal or his delegate before an order is placed.''

Kathy Shipley, vice president of Saugus High School's dance booster club, said dance competitions already have guidelines against costumes that might be too revealing. She also pointed out that parents, boosters and the dancers themselves - not school district funds - pay for costumes.

A Saugus dancer can spend up to $1,000 a year on performance attire, she said.

Board member Steve Sturgeon said district officials have been lax in enforcing campus dress codes and questioned why the review was focusing on dance squads.

``This district cannot enforce the dress code on a daily basis,'' he said. ``How can we enforce a dress code that's event-driven? I feel we're focusing on the wrong group.''

Ellis, who cast the deciding vote in the 3-2 split, said he was partly swayed by Shipley's comment that there already are costume standards in dance competitions.

``We don't have to tell football players they have to wear shoulder pads,'' he said. ``We already have organizations that do it. It would just compound things.''