After months of deliberation between students and administration, Castilleja’s Casti Congress Uniform Bill went into effect on Feb. 4, allowing upper school students to wear black or navy blue dance pants during the colder months of Nov. 1 through March 31.
The bill was drafted and presented to the administration in the winter of the 2024-2025 school year by Sabella Vaka ’28 and a group of freshman bill writers. Vaka said the effort was partly inspired by an email from Heather Pang, the Department Lead for History and Social Sciences, who noted that a winter pants option had previously existed at the school.
“It’s so cold out here, like freezing cold. Castilleja included sweatpants and jeans in the uniform until 2025. It was a big change because previously we were allowed to wear sweatpants and jeans,” Vaka said.
The bill passed in spring 2025, but its implementation was delayed until the second half of the winter season due to communication gaps between ASB and administration. Upper School Dean of Students Katina Ballantyne, who was on maternity leave during part of the process, said Head of Upper School Peter Hatala had waited for her return before moving forward.
“I think Mr. Hatala probably wanted to respect that this is for the dean team and me to do,” Ballantyne said.
Though the bill writers received broad support from the student body, they said they experienced tension with Hatala and other faculty members who opposed the bill. According to Vaka, the committee of alums and administrators was “fighting for unity in how all the uniforms look cohesive.”
Hatala said the winter pants bill first came to his attention last year when the Casti Congress bill was passed. He participated in hearings alongside Kathy Layendecker, the Associate Head of School for Finance and Operations, and said he was impressed by the “thoughtfulness and the care” the students demonstrated in their presentations.
When he first reviewed the proposal, Hatala said it “seemed reasonable and humane,” given the lack of cold-weather uniform options at the time. While he initially questioned whether existing options provided enough warmth, he acknowledged that many students felt they did not.
Much of the conversation centered around logistics, specifically what type of pants would be appropriate. “The bill was written in a particular way where student leaders, ASB in particular, would work with the dean of students to come up with a cold-weather alternative, so ASB pitched several different options,” Hatala said. The goal, he added, was to “try to land on the option that the students wanted, but also that fell within what was reasonable for the uniform.”
ASB President Caroline Yuan ‘26 worked alongside ASB and Ballantyne to select the winter pant option for the 2025-2026 school year. Before the final decision was made, “ASB proposed three main options: jeans, dance pants, and trousers,” Yuan said.
In the end, dance pants were chosen for their versatility and popularity. Yuan also noted that sweatpants were never proposed or discussed because of the administration’s previous dislike for that option.
After ASB proposed its recommendations, it took a while for the deans and faculty to reach a consensus. Following additional meetings between student leaders and faculty, the uniform change was implemented for the latter half of the winter season.
One of the main challenges in finalizing the bill was disagreement over which pants to allow. According to Yuan, the administration originally suggested using the current uniform pants, while ASB argued that offering options students already owned would be more practical for families.
“There was also disagreement about whether it was actually cold enough to require another pant option. We responded that students are bringing blankets to school, shivering,” Yuan said.
A common concern from the student body was whether the policy would remain consistent in future years, as purchasing new uniform items annually is not cost-effective. In response, Ballantyne said, “We’re looking to keep it consistent, because in the language of the bill, it specifies Nov. 1 to March 31. Consistency is good for folks. I would also hate for someone to buy dance pants this year, and then it changes next year.”
With the policy now in place, students have an additional uniform option during colder months, marking the first change to winter dress guidelines in several years.
