Grants Pass, Ore. — A mother’s complaint is making the rounds on social media. She said her daughter’s Grants Pass elementary school pulled her nine-year-old daughter out of class and warned her about her outfit. Now, the girl’s mother is hoping the incident opens a discussion about body shaming.
Imagine dropping off your elementary school daughter on a hot spring day. She’s wearing a tank top, shorts, and tennis shoes. Now imagine her getting sent to the office for violating dress code – that’s what happened to one Grants Pass mom on Wednesday.
“She was wearing a sport outfit. She plays soccer, so she’s often in sporty things – and she was wearing a black tank top with thick straps – and a pair of pink jogger shorts that were well past her fingertips,” said the nine-year-old girl’s mother.
This was the outfit one nine-year-old girl was wearing Wednesday. The same outfit that got her removed from class for a dress code violation. The dress code is listed in the student handbook, given to all students at the beginning of the school year.
“Shorts to the end of the fingertips, tank tops that are at least lasagna noodles wide is pretty much the standard and that goes all the way through school,” said Debbie Simons, Director of Human Services for Three Rivers School District.
While the girl’s mother – who asked not to be identified – is defending her daughter’s outfit, she’s more concerned about how the situation was handled.
“When she got home, she had told me that the people in the office had let her know that their dress code was there, because they wanted to make sure that she knew how to dress when she got to high school so that boys wouldn’t look at her or do inappropriate things,” she said.
The mother says the school was wrong for framing the discussion in the way it did.
“That’s not something that should be said to a nine-year-old, in any way shape of form. And they sexualized her and let her know that a part of her body could be perceived as sexual when she was unaware of that,” she said.
The school district is looking into the incident. However, it said it’s confident in its dress code and how it’s enforced.
“There should be no difference in the standard between male or female students,” Simons said.
Whatever happens, the girl’s mother hopes this opens up an important conversation.
“There’s no way that a girl should feel like somehow that she’s dressing, would make it her fault if a boy were violating her in some way,” she said.
The spokesperson for Three Rivers School District said they’ve seen the mother’s post on social media. They said if they can confirm what was said to the girl, there will be the appropriate consequences.
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