When Redwood Middle School students return from winter break, they’ll have a decision to make: Do I wear my Tigger socks today, or no?

After months of legal negotiations and a spate of national media attention, a settlement was reached Friday between the Napa Valley Unified School District and the families of five Redwood students, who claimed that the school’s no-logos, no-denim dress code violated their constitutional rights.

Then-eighth-grader Toni Kay Scott, one of the plaintiffs represented by the American Civil Liberties Union in the case, garnered national notoriety after she was removed from class for wearing socks with the Winnie the Pooh character Tigger.

According to the settlement agreement, any future dress codes at Redwood Middle School that limit colors, fabrics or patterns will be implemented only as part of a school uniform that allows parents to opt out. The district will not prohibit lettering or pictures unless allowed by the education code, which protects the free speech rights of students in California’s public schools.

The original policy prohibited students from wearing colors other than white, yellow, green, blue, brown, khaki, black and gray; denim, stripes or logos of any size. The dress code was introduced in the 1990s in response to rising gang activity on campus. According to some school officials, the dress code was successful in mitigating safety concerns associated with attire.

Scott and other students said the policy crossed a constitutional line.

Now, the two are meeting somewhere in the middle. The school will keep its current interim dress code policy in place during the spring. That policy does not explicitly ban non-gang or drug-related logos or writing, but retains restrictions on fabrics that students can wear.

If school officials decide to implement a stricter policy next year, parents will have the ability to opt out.

ACLU attorney Julia Harumi Mass said that the settlement bars the school from prohibiting students like Scott from wearing now infamous Tigger socks. Logos and lettering are protected under the settlement unless determined to be obscene, libelous or slanderous, or to promote unlawful acts or violation of school regulations.

The district will also remove any references to dress code violations from the student plaintiffs’ records and allow all other students who attended Redwood Middle School during the last six years to request that similar references be removed from their records.

Now, the district will be able to turn its attention — and funds — back on educating students.

“We are glad we were able to settle the lawsuit, which diverted economic resources from our primary mission,” said NVUSD Superintendent John Glaser.

Said Glaser, “The district recognizes that state law protects student speech. Where we had a difference of opinion with the plaintiffs was on whether the law limited schools’ ability to restrict clothing choices in order to establish an educational environment conducive to teaching and learning for all students. We made an economic decision not to continue spending limited district resources defending a lawsuit, but to use those resources where they belong, to continue providing quality instruction to the students of Redwood Middle School and the district.”

“I think it’s great that my daughter Sydni, and all the kids at Redwood, can wear clothes that express their individuality,” said Donnell Scott, mother of Toni Kay and Sydni Scott, and a plaintiff in the lawsuit. “We’re all happy that the case is resolved and we can all focus on our kids’ educations.”