NORTH COUNTY -- Thousands of North County high school students will have to shelve their favorite belly-baring, cleavage-clinging tops and their barely there shorts and low-hanging, gravity-defying pants next month.

Summer's out. School's in. And that means, of course, that all the popular clothes kids wore over the summer accentuating the "Three B's" -- breasts, bellies and bottoms -- are suddenly out of fashion, or at least they're out in the hallways and classes at area high schools.

That's because clothes that are revealing or draw too much attention are both a distraction from learning and a safety concern, North County school district officials said last week. And, actually, as teens flock to the malls this month to buy new clothes for the new school year, many campus officials said they can only hope that students and their parents keep the dress codes in mind.

Otherwise, they said, the start of a new school year once again will turn into a code-busting showdown -- with administrators enforcing the rules on one side and students bending and breaking the rules on the other.

"Dress codes are interesting because it's like politics and religion," said Bob Harman, the student services director at San Marcos Unified School District. "For every parent who wants a kid to wear whatever they want, there is a parent or student who wants a dress code.

"We are always going to err on the edge of having a code."

Dress codes differ only slightly at North County high schools. Most of them ban tank tops with straps thinner than an inch, shirts and tops that end above the waistline, baggy pants that hang on thighs, and clothing advertising gang affiliation or illegal items such as drugs, alcohol and marijuana.

And every school tries to make sure everyone is familiar with the dress code.

The dress codes are advertised annually in student handbooks families pick up at registration, for example, and they're even reviewed in classes during the first few weeks of school, said Randi Gibson, Oceanside Unified School District's student services director.

Even so, a dozen teens and parents said in interviews last week while shopping for school clothes that students routinely break dress codes because they're not enforced regularly.

Students and parents offered varying opinions about dress rules last week. Teens typically said they want to wear what they like -- especially tank and halter tops for girls and hip-hugging pants for boys.

Others said dress codes could be a good thing, but that it's pointless to have them if they're not enforced.

"It doesn't bother me when people don't follow (dress codes), but it probably distracts a lot of the guys," said 15-year-old McKinley Agatha, a sophomore at Westview High School. "(The dress code) is not enforced a lot of the time."

McKinley said she follows the dress code, mostly because she doesn't have a choice. Her mother's rules for what's appropriate to wear on campus are stricter than the school's rules, she said.

Her mother said there's a good reason for that.

"There is too much skin everywhere and too much ripped stuff," McKinley's mother, Rachelle Agatha said. "As far as I can tell, the schools let them wear whatever they want."

Setting an example

Dress code infractions are common, school administrators and district officials said last week. And it's nearly impossible to catch and discipline every student who breaks the rules, they said.

On a campus with several thousand kids, administrators, teachers and supervisors said they're so vastly outnumbered that it's nearly impossible to spot all the code-busters.

"You aren't going to catch it all," Harman said. "It's like people speeding on the highway. There is always one person who gets pulled over for speeding, even though others are going just as fast."

Schools officials said they don't tally the number of dress code violations they handle in any one day or year. And they said they rarely suspend students for "breaking the code."

The San Marcos district, for example, typically only has about nine suspensions a year -- out of more than a thousand suspensions districtwide -- that have to do with dress-code violations, Harman said.

Typically, dress-code discipline does not go beyond asking students to change their outfits, Gibson said, adding that officials will actually call parents in cases where a student repeatedly violates the dress code. Suspensions are usually reserved for students who have other behavior problems or if they're being defiant, she added.

There are certain situations where districts are more aggressive in enforcing their dress codes -- when a student is wearing something that advertises the colors or sports team logos adopted by local gangs, for example.

Fights can erupt between rival gangs on campus just because of what a student is wearing, and unsuspecting kids who accidentally wear the wrong colors or logos could find themselves the target of a gang member, officials said.

When the dress code is enforced "it's done respectfully a lot of the time," said Angela Chunka, the president of Vista Unified's parent-teacher association.

"I had one son who wore a shirt that was borderline and I had to take a shirt for him to change into," she said. "It was funny because the principal knows him and she just kind of looked at him like, 'Really, you are one of the leaders here.' "

'I get what I want'

Like Chunka's teenage son, who bought a shirt for school last year that he knew wouldn't meet Rancho Buena Vista High School's rules, many teenagers said last week they're not going to give dress codes much thought when they buy clothes for school.

Mini-shorts, strappy, lace-trimmed tank tops, and jeans worn with holes at the knees, along the thigh and elsewhere are in fashion at the local stores, even if they aren't on campuses.

"I get what I want," said 14-year-old Carlsbad High sophomore Maya Mcinnis. "I am not going to be like, 'Oh no, school says I can't wear that so I shouldn't buy it.' "

Maya said she can either risk wearing a code-breaking outfit to school and hope she doesn't get caught or only wear the clothes on the weekend and after school.

Other teens, such as 15-year-old Stephanie Tilley, a sophomore at Valley Center High School, and 14-year-old Chandler Williams, a freshman at Rancho Bernardo High School, said they'll look for ways to get around dress rules.

Both girls said they will layer shirts with sleeves or thicker strapped tanks over skimpier tops. They said they'll also bring sweaters to cover up their skimpier clothes around teachers and administrators, and use their hands to shield the holes in their pants or skirts when necessary.

"You just make (your clothes) fit -- or look like they fit -- the dress code," said Stephanie.

Contact staff writer Shayna Chabner at (760) 740-5416 or schabner@nctimes.com.