15-year-old student 'ashamed' and 'disgusted' after being dress coded at school
A high school student in Kentucky says that she was “extremely humiliated” by a teacher who reprimanded her for a pair of overalls, which she alleges are within the school’s dress code.
Courtney Robertson, 15, is a student at Lawrence County High School where a teacher sent her home on Monday morning because of her outfit. According to the student’s tweet, where she expressed she’s upset about the incident, she had dressed according to the student handbook. She claims that the teacher who approached her didn’t care.
Robertson went on to say that the manner in which the teacher approached her made her feel like her outfit was “a crime.”
“As she called me out for dress code that morning she gave me a dirty and disgusted look. As if I had intended to be disgusting,” Robertson tells Yahoo Lifestyle of the unidentified teacher. “I was honestly taken back by her words.”
“People wear shoulderless tops, booty shorts, crop tops, ect at my school and don’t get sent home. I have been humiliated by my school, for following dress code. I sat in the office crying all morning. Why is it a crime for me to wear overalls, but it’s OKAY to wear booty shorts?” Robertson tweeted. “I genuinely feel like s*** now. I absolutely hate my body image, but today is the FIRST day I would have ever worn “shorts”. I never show my arms or legs. This just made me hate my body image even more. Thank you to my HS for humiliating me and making me feel disgusting.”
Robertson went on to say that the manner in which the teacher approached her made her feel like her outfit was “a crime.”
“As she called me out for dress code that morning she gave me a dirty and disgusted look. As if I had intended to be disgusting,” Robertson tells Yahoo Lifestyle of the unidentified teacher. “I was honestly taken back by her words.”
The teen also said that she suffers from body image issues, which often make her feel self-conscious about her outfit choices. But she felt proud to have worn this particular look, before she was made to feel ashamed of it.
“This was my first day of the whole semester wearing any form of shorts,” she says. “I was quite proud of myself for managing, but after her nasty attitude I felt as if I had done something extremely wrong and felt disgusted, ashamed even of my body image.”
Robertson was sent to the main office, where she says she met with the vice principal who reinforced that her overalls were too short, although she claims to have seen other students in sleeveless tops and shorts less appropriate than hers, and maintains that she was within dress code. She was ultimately provided with the option to be late for class but still counted with a full day absence for punishment, or be sent home.
“Either way I’d miss a couple classes worth of work, and be counted with a full absence for something out of my control,” Robertson says.
Lawrence County High School Principal Christy Moore tells Yahoo Lifestyle, “It is not our practice or procedure to provide information about an individual student.” However, she provided a copy of the dress code in its entirety, which wasn’t readily available online. In it, the rule about shorts and skirts states that they “must be no shorter than 3 inches above the knee without the waist being rolled including those worn over undergarments.”
Still, Robertson says that her mother plans on placing a complaint with the school board in the following days about the way that the situation was handled. As for the teen, she’s avoiding wearing her overalls in order to not get suspended from school.
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Mom says she was dress-coded by high school after trying to enroll daughter in classes
Mom calls out school district for sexist dress code: 'We need to stop body shaming our pre-teens'
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