This research examined news reports in order to identify incidents that precipitated dress code revisions. News reports were examined within the framework of rules for civil behavior. Using key words "school dress codes" and "violence," LEXIS/NEXIS was used to access 104 articles from 44 U.S. newspapers from December 3, 2004 to December 2, 2005. Seven types of incidents were identified and then each type was classified as either a proactive or reactive reason with regard to dress code revision. One reason was proactive; the other six were reactive."Current fashion trends" was the single dominant (reactive) reason (30%) for dress code revisions, but there were a number of incidents related to school terrorism (45%). Family and consumer sciences (FCS) teachers can help students learn civil behavior by including learning activities that promote civil behavior, by purposefully creating a classroom culture that emphasizes civil behavior, and by serving as role models. (Contains 2 tables.)