TAMPA — Katia Zauala scoured the tank top selections at Old Navy on Friday for the perfect sleeve — small enough to stay cool and trendy, big enough to stay in class.

To pass muster in the halls of Bloomingdale High School and avoid being draped in one of the oversized T-shirts the school keeps on hand, straps must be thicker than the spaghetti-style version 15-year-old Zauala wore Friday while shopping with friends at the start of Florida’s 10-day tax-free holiday.

In the past, school officials might have allowed minor violations like sleeve width, especially if a student rarely breaks the rules.

But this year, students in the Hillsborough school district are getting a warning: Don’t take any chances.

“It’s not too hard to find clothes that fit the guidelines, and they give us some freedom,” said Zauala, who will be a sophomore this year. “No midriffs, no spaghetti straps, no pajama bottoms … but there are still ways to look cute and stay in line with the dress code.”

Parents have raised questions about changes this year in the district’s student handbook that are designed to cut down on out-of-school suspensions. Will this mean softening up on classroom discipline?

No, school officials insist, and the emphasis on dress code proves it.

The revamped handbook, in fact, is designed to ensure that all schools are enforcing the rules consistently.

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“On of my pet peeves is dress code,” said school board Chairwoman Susan Valdes. “If there’s a certain standard and expectation written in our guidelines, guess what? You’ve got to enforce it, and if not, some schools will punish the fact that you’re out of dress code while others will not. That consistency is important.”

The dress code did not undergo changes this year. Enforcement will, school board members said.

They’re telling school officials to “be aware” and “step up,” said school board member Sally Harris.

“There’s a problem with house slippers: some schools forbid wearing them on campus and other schools are more lax on that standard and will let the kids get by with it,” Harris said. “If it’s not going to be acceptable at one it should not be acceptable at another.”

The renewed focus on the handbook should create an environment that “helps teachers to teach and students to learn,” said Superintendent Jeff Eakins.

“We needed a clear, consistent lens,” Eakins said. “We want to be judicious but consistent.”

That’s a change that Neil Adams, with three boys enrolled at East Bay High School, finds long overdue.

“The dress code seems to be OK right now, but there are some definite inconsistencies with enforcement,” Adams said as he helped 18-year-old son Austin Adams shop for jeans that won’t sag below his waistline. “You still see kids walking around schools with their pants hanging down and their underwear showing. It’s pretty gross.”

In the spirit of a “culture shift” that’s the motive for the handbook revisions, several high schools, like Robinson High, will do away with daily homeroom classes — cutting out a 12-minute period that often served as a trap for students to be written up for playing on their cellphones or causing trouble because they are bored, Principal Johnny Bush said. It also was a catch-all for dress code infractions, Bush said.

Students will now only go to homeroom if information needs to be disseminated, but he cautioned students that eyes still will monitor hemlines and T-shirts.

“I have a 14-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old daughter, so I know dress code can be a struggle, but for the most part all of our students know to dress appropriately,” Bush said.

The biggest challenge now is trendy, midriff-bearing tops and backless tops and dresses, Bush said. Athletic wear, particularly yoga pants for girls, are also becoming popular in school hallways but the tight-fitting bottoms aren’t allowed.

School staff, as at many Hillsborough high schools, keep T-shirts, sweaters and jackets on hand to cover exposed students — a way to enforce the dress code without doling out a suspension or detention.

“It’s a skill that’s learned just like anything else,” said Leto High Principal Hilda Genco. “It’s a matter of dressing professionally for your future to make a good impression at work or interviewing for a job. That’s something we really believe in and we expect, not just of our students but the staff also.”

Leto High will also do away with daily homeroom to “extend the academic time in other classes,” Genco said. A major component of the handbook changes was ensuring parents are properly notified when their children are disciplined, she said.

“If we notice dress code is an issue with a student we try to sit down with them and explain what the problems are and why it is so important,” Genco said. “We’ll also sit down with the parents as well to explain why we think their child is dressed inappropriately and see if there are any challenges for them in meeting the standards.”

The Hillsborough district could have received an extra $10 per student in state money — an estimated $1.4 million — if it had opted to adopt a policy on school uniforms for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. With a new superintendent stepping in and a host of other changes, though, there were too many “heavier things to take care of to have a big conversation” about the incentive money this school year, Harris said.

In Hillsborough County, it is up to individual schools to decide if they want a uniform. Even then, the decision has to be supported by at least three-fourths of parents and teachers.

The schools that require uniforms find help for families that may not have the money to buy them, and parents can fill out an opt-out form if they choose not to have their children participate.

Because some schools are changing to a K-8 format, and a new elementary school is opening, the list of schools where uniforms are required is not yet complete, school district spokeswoman Tanya Arja said.

Last school year, 76 elementary schools and 24 middle schools required uniforms among the district’s 250-plus public schools. An additional 20 elementary schools and Adams Middle School have a voluntary uniform policy that allows parents to choose if their child dons the traditional khakis and polos.

Parents like Linda Akpan say the uniforms at Stuart Middle School make getting her 11-year-old ready in the morning “much less complicated.”

“I went to school where there wasn’t a dress code and there was so much competition, I was always nervous about looking good and trying to fit in,” Akpan said.

Yet her daughter, sixth- grader Lola Omoboni, is counting down the days until she can move on and finally choose clothing to help her stand out in the hallways, she said.

“I like colorful clothing, like tank tops with vests built in and the ripped jeans that are really popular now,” Omoboni said as she straightened her newsboy cap and shuffled through a rack of sundresses at Old Navy.

“I don’t like to look the same as everybody else.”

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Hilary Duff may have an expansive closet full of designer duds – which she often shows off on her Instagram account – but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have favorite pieces.

And the 28-year-old proved exactly that when she stepped out in Los Angeles wearing a stylish animal print maxi dress for the second time in two weeks.

She was spotted donning the memorable number as she picked up some groceries with her three-year-old son Luca.

The spaghetti strap, floor-length dress was embellished with a few animal prints, and Hilary cinched the billowing fabric in with a studded leather belt.

She coupled the dress with a pair of tan leather sandals, and had a pair of silver sunglasses clipped into her top.

The mother-of-one wore her long, blonde tresses in a center part, and her hair was styled in loose waves.

She completed the boho look with a pair of hoop earrings and a statement necklace, and kept her make-up natural for the outing.

Hilary brought along her son Luca – with ex Mike Comrie – who sported a red and navy blue tank top, green shorts, and a pair of black and neon yellow sneakers as his mother pushed him in the shopping cart.

Less than two weeks prior, on July 18, Hilary was spotted wearing the same dress as she was seen leaving a lunch date at Joan’s on Third in West Hollywood.

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For this outing she accessorized the look with a turquoise belt hung loosely around her slender waistline, and a pair of metallic gold sandals.

She wore her blonde locks in loose waves, sporting some of it pinned back as a few wisps framed her face.

Currently Hilary stars on TV Land series Younger, which is set to return to TV screens with its second series in January 2016 after the first received positive reviews.

The show marks Hilary’s first starring role in a television series since her appearance as Lizzie McGuire in the teen sitcom of the same name which went off air in 2004.

Younger is based on the novel by Pamela Redmond Satran in which Sutton Foster stars as the main character – Liza Miller – who is a 40-year-old recently-divorced mother after her husband David (Paul Fitzgerald) left her for a younger woman.

After a makeover, Liza lands a job working alongside younger co-worker Kelsey Peters (Hilary) and the twosome strike up an unlikely friendship.

Hilary is also projected to reprise her music career after releasing three singles – Sparks, Chasing The Sun, and All About You – along with her latest track Tattoo.

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