It’s hard to fathom from the distance of almost seven decades, but in 1957 Mt. Lebanon High School had a big flap about whether boys were allowed to wear jeans to school. And the issue was so momentous, it warranted extensive coverage in the Pittsburgh Press.

”Blue jeans,” as they were then called, were considered both too casual for school wear and somehow associated with bad behavior. Whether it was James Dean or those wild bobby soxers (think Grease), jeans had overtones of an element of society that Dr. Nelson Mills, then principal of the high school, did not want associated with his student body.

The issue then only applied to the male students, since girls were not permitted to wear any kind of pants or trousers — let alone ”dungarees” — to school, and faced a strict dress code of their own.

But rules for the boys had been looser. Then in February, 1957, the ban was strengthened when administrators sent 40 students home for showing up in jeans.

Press coverage said: ”The ban on blue jeans and other ‘unsuitable attire’ was undertaken by Dr. Nelson Mills with the sanction of the student body.” The bad guy role apparently fell to Geraldine Morgan, administrative assistant at the school (and later head of the guidance department), who called in the culprits and suggested they stay there until they changed to ”more formal attire.”

”Dr. Mills said the ban on jeans had its beginning last year when the Parent-Teacher Assn. decided that there was a definite relationship between insubordination and sloppy dress,” reported the Press. ”’We found that practically every time we had a recalcitrant student on our hands, he was wearing some extreme form of attire,’ Dr. Mills said.”

The dispute led to rumors of an insurrection. Mills took to the public address system to quash any rebellion by warning that students were expected to set an example of good taste for other high schools.

The general revolt did not materialize, although one bold individual dared to show up wearing all red in protest — and was promptly sent home.

Newspaper coverage included itself: ”Apparently seeking to keep the pot boiling, some anonymous students called newspapers with whispered revelations of a mass challenge of school authorities. But a Press reporter who dropped in as classes were changing after the first period reported the pupils were all pictures of conservatism in their dress.”

The issue did not disappear. Later that year, an editorial entitled ”The Blue Jean Ban” in the Press stated: ”[School officials] have determined, as have many mothers ahead of them, that a definite relationship exists between good grooming and good behavior. Slovenliness in appearance is first cousin to disregard for authority. Cheapness and carelessness of dress, tied to an urge for conformity, can reduce the level of student appearance to a depressing common denominator.”

The newspapers don’t record when jeans were finally allowed, but girls won the right to wear pants to school 12 years later in 1969.