(FCN) ORANGE PARK, Florida -- A Florida mother claims a high school forced her daughter to swap her too-short skirt for what she calls a "shame suit."
On the third day of school, she says 15-year-old Miranda Larkin unintentionally broke the school dress code, and the punishment was humiliating.
When Miranda went to class in a black skirt about three to four inches above her knees, she didn't know she was in violation of Oakleaf High School's dress code.
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"[A teacher] just points at me from across the hall and says 'Your skirt is too short.'"
She says the teacher sent her to the school nurse, who said she had to put on another outfit: a neon yellow t-shirt and bright red sweat pants with the words 'DRESS CODE VIOLATION' written across both.
Miranda just moved to Clay County from Seattle, and this was on her third day at her new school.
"She put on the outfit in the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror and just broke down. She started sobbing and broke out in hives," said Dianna Larkin, the teen's mom.
A spokesperson from the Clay County School District says students who violate the dress code are given the option to:
- Stay in their clothes and go to in-school suspension
- Wear the sweats and t-shirt as punishment and go to class
- Or arrange for someone to bring them other clothes.
Miranda says she was only given one option.
"I feel that by putting a kid in an outfit that says what they did wrong across their chest and down their leg is taking their private records and making them public, and that's a clear violation of their privacy rights." added the teen's mother.
Miranda was able to leave school early and not face suspension. Her mother says she's filing a complaint with FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, for making her daughter's discipline public.
The Clay County School District says the intent of the outfit is to get students back to class as quickly as possible.
The School Board attorney said in a statement:
I have given this consideration, looked at FERPA and have even asked other opinions in other districts. None of us see this a FERPA violation as it is not a personally identifiable student record. Additionally it is not displaying a discipline record to the public. If we put the kid on work detail all students would know that hi/she is being disciplined. If we put in ISS same result. Saturday school same result. Community service, same result. If we took off the words the other students would still know that the prison orange t shirts were for dress code violations. I think that the practice is okay. In Alachua county they have t shirts that say "dress code winner". What is the difference. As to bullying? I think some parents would say that any consequence is bullying. I see no issue with the practice.
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