It’s back to school season and that means two things. For one, this means we will be seeing parents rejoice with their new found freedom. But also it means we will begin seeing school uniforms get questioned.
That’s what happened to Scarlett O’Donoghue who is only 14 when she was pulled aside by school staff to tell her that her pants were too tight. She was told to go home and the problem is, these shorts were bought from the school’s uniform site!
Her mom, Claire, was contacted and told that her daughter wasn’t allowed to be in class.
Claire recalled that:
“Scarlett was so excited about starting her GCSEs – I was livid. What I cannot get over is what right does one teacher have to say my child’s trousers are too tight?
Scarlett thinks she’s too fat, like a lot of teenage girls – for someone in authority to ‘say your clothes are too tight’ is disgusting.
A lot of girls also have issues about their weight and their body image.”
She continued onto say:
“So if you have an adult telling you the skirt is too tight, it’s going to hugely harm your self-esteem.
What is that saying to teenage girls about their self-confidence when they are already worried about their weight?”
The family had spent over $65 on new school clothes that were deemed wearable by the school but now Scarlett couldn’t even wear those. Claire also wasn’t happy with the school essentially sexualizing her 14-year-old girl.
Claire posted about it on social media and began a petition to get the school to chill out on the uniform policy. It’s gotten over 500 signatures, but that might not matter. The school’s principal, Dale Barrowclough, doesn’t seem to be budging an inch on the policy.
He said in a statement:
“We have the uniform policy because it promotes a professional ethos in the school and it allows pupils who can’t afford branded clothes to avoid bullying.
This is something that was raised by parents and which is why they wanted the uniform policy and it would be unfair to change it now.
I’m not prepared to relax our high standards. It’s why Forge Valley is oversubscribed and we could not say that when the school opened.”
Don’t tell anyone but I think I have an exclusive picture of Mr. Barrowclough:
He went onto say:
“Parents are always given adequate warning about next year’s uniform in my end-of-summer-term letter which says that full uniform must be worn for the start of September.”
He also said that a few other students were sent home due to how they were dressed, but have since corrected themselves.
He concluded:
“I believe we are consistent but with any policy, some sense of judgement needs to be made. But tight trousers verging on leggings is not school uniform.”
It seems everyone is on edge about children’s clothing recently. Just the other month, this girl was sent away from the mall after her shorts were too short.
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