The school year in the U.S. only just started and there’s already a dress code controversy. On the second day of school last week, Stacie Dunn's daughter Stephanie was sent to the principal’s office for exposing her collarbone, which is a violation of the dress code at Woodford County High School.
According to the Kentucky school's rules, girls are required to wear shirts that cover their collarbone, as that area may cause distraction for boys. Specifically, the dress code suggests they wear crewneck shirts, which are defined as “rounded neck t-shirts that do not extend below the collarbone.”
When Dunn arrived at the school, she discovered that it was not just her daughter who violated this dress code, but a whole group of female students.
Outraged, the Kentucky mother posted a photo of her daughter’s “inappropriate” outfit to Facebook. She then criticized the school code, saying: “This is ridiculous! Parents are being called away from their important jobs and students are missing important class time because they are showing their collarbones! Something needs to change!”
Dunn’s post was shared over 42,000 times and received over 100 comments from users that agreed with her. “No. Way,” one wrote. “What's next? ‘COVER UP YOUR HEAD! All those brains are intimidating the boys!’ Unbelievable.”
Unfortunately, the absurdity didn’t end there for Dunn’s daughter. That same day, Dunn gave Stephanie a scarf to wear to hide her collarbone, but the fix didn’t sit well with the principal. Stephanie was then sent home for giving him “an attitude.”
According to school superintendent Scott Hawkins, the high school's dress code has been in place for over 10 years. “Our school administration has been very open with students and parents alike, that if they feel like changes need to be made, they are open to suggestions,” Hawkins told Today.com. “It just needs to be measurable so that it can be consistently enforced.”
Following Dunn’s public Facebook posts, Principal Rob Akers agreed to meet with students to discuss a reasonable dress code change. This week, the group will take their proposal to the school board.
In a Facebook update, Dunn thanked everyone for their support and clarified that her issue was with the dress code itself, not the school. “It was never my intent to ‘bash’ anyone, merely to draw attention to what I feel was an injustice in our school system,” she wrote. “The issue here was in the ridiculous dress code not in the conduct of the faculty.”
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