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By JEAN LACOE; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Thursday, January 15, 1998 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1A 





WILKES-BARRE- Principal Mary Jo Walsh Santo marched into her school's
cafeteria last Thursday, masking tape in hand, discipline in mind. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 She had repeatedly warned St. Aloysius School students since mid-November
about their drooping pants and untucked shirts. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Santos had enough. She plucked 21 offenders from their seats and sent them
to the lavatory to tuck in their shirts and hike up their pants. As they
emerged, she lined them up in the hall and handed them foot-long pieces of
tape, Santos and others said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade boys stuck two pieces of tape on
themselves, hooking their pants and shirts together. For the rest of the day,
the tape was a reminder to all 256 students of the school's dress code. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The big question: Did it get through to the students- whose brains are
already chock full of adolescent tortures such as dating, puberty and peer
pressure? &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "It worked like a charm," Santo said on Wednesday, as neatly dressed
teenagers scurried to their classes. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Parents, students and the School Board have rallied behind Santo, who is in
her first year on the job. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "The way I look at it, I send my daughter to a parochial school and I know
there is a dress code," said Debbie Schlosser, the mother of a student who
wasn't involved. "The rules are there for a reason. I make sure my children
adhere." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But Schlosser's no saint herself. She remembers getting in trouble for
shortening her parochial school uniform in her younger days. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "There was no harm to the children- except making them stand out as those
who didn't pay attention to the rules," she said. "I would say that is what
you get if my kid came home taped." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Kris Keating, one of the taped students, agreed. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We thought it was kind of funny," he said. "(Mrs. Santo) is so nice. She
does all sorts of stuff for us." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Santo said proper attire is a hallmark of Catholic education and must be
enforced- at all costs. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Any sort of discipline is a risk," she said. "But parents are spending a
great deal of money to send their kids here. They expect me to enforce the
rules." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Seventh- and eighth-grade teacher Amy Martin said the grunge look has been
creeping into students' dress since last year. Some parents have purchased
clothes several sizes too big for their children so the pants will hang from
their hips. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "If they want to dress their kids like that, there's always public
schools," Martin said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 It all comes down to this: Parents are getting what they pay for from St.
A

Students Cannot Skirt Dress Code St. Aloysius School Principal Has Used Masking Tape To Teach Offenders To Stick To The Rules