With the start of a new school year comes a new collection of bizarre dress code violation stories. This particular one comes from Forest Hill High School in West Palm Beach, Florida, where a female student was suspended for showing a single knee at school. Um — yeah, we’re not kidding.
On September 13th, Palm Beach County Mayor Melissa McKinlay posted a “mom rant” on Facebook regarding the unjust suspension of her daughter for wearing a pair of ripped jeans to school. McKinlay explained in her post that a male administrator issued the in-school suspension and told her daughter that “she needed to consider the guys in her class and their hormones when choosing her wardrobe.”
“I’m sorry but EXCUSE ME?” McKinlay wrote. “Perhaps she should have worn a different pair of jeans. But why should she have to worry about dressing a certain way to curtail a boy’s potential behavior? So, like, it’s her fault if the boy touches her because of what she was wearing?”
She then questioned if it’s really okay that a boy’s “potential inability” to control himself warrants her daughter’s inability to attend class and “miss out on valuable curriculum.” We’ll answer: No!
McKinlay also included a photo of the jeans her daughter wore to school that day. Yup, you’re seeing correctly — there’s a single knee peeking through the rip. Honestly, who doesn’t own a pair of ripped jeans these days?
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“A male administrator yanked her out of a classroom because of a damn KNEE? Did he pull the boys out who were wearing shorts? They have TWO knees showing?” McKinlay added. “Sexism. Victim blaming. Girl shaming. This Administrator should be suspended.”
According to the Palm Beach Post, Forest Hill High School Principal Mary Stratos responded to the incident later that same day. She said that although ripped jeans do not comply with the school’s dress code, she would investigate the comments made by the school administrator.
On September 14th, McKinlay posted an update on Facebook saying she and Stratos had talked and she’s confident Stratos is following up on the incident. McKinlay noted that she disapproved of her daughter violating the dress code in place, but she was more upset with the way the male administrator handled it.
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“As a strong advocate for women,” McKinlay wrote, “and particularly survivors of sexual assault, the message that somehow a woman’s wardrobe is responsible for a man’s behavior is wrong. In any form. And I am hopeful this will be used as an opportunity to provide further sensitivity training to staff and students.”
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Although we think receiving a suspension for wearing ripped jeans is a little extreme, the situation could have been handled with so much more grace. We certainly hope this incident is a teaching moment for school officials, parents, and students alike.