Posted on 04/02/2010 4:47:26 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
Dress Deemed Too Short, Revealing On Top:
OXFORD, Ala. --
A high school senior in Alabama was suspended for wearing a prom dress that school officials said was too short at the hem and too revealing on top.
"I was so excited because it was my senior prom and I'd never been to a senior prom, so I was excited," Oxford High School student Erica DeRamus said.
DeRamus said she knew her school had dress code policies, but didn't think her dress would violate them. But when she got to prom Saturday, officials told her it was too short and too revealing.
"What cleavage? That's exactly what I said. I wasn't trying to be rude or anything, but that's what I feel," DeRamus said.
"If I felt it was too much cleavage in this dress, I wouldn't have purchased this dress," said her mother, Darrie DeRamus. "It would have stayed in that store and I wouldn't have even gotten it off the Internet and paid for it."
But principal Trey Holloday said it violated school policy stating that dresses cannot have cleavage falling below the breastbone or hems more than 6 inches above the knee.
"And so that expectation in our community is that it's there for protection of kids and not for management of kids," he said.
Erica's mother said she was never notified of the prom dress code.
But Holloday said all parents and students were told about it not once, but three times.
Of the 352 students who attended prom, 18 violated the policy, he said. Seventeen of them chose to be paddled, while DeRamus chose a three-day suspension, Holloday said.
"We're too old to be paddled," Erica DeRamus said. "This is high school. We are seniors. If you're going to act up, give us another option besides getting paddled, because this is not the 1940s. We don't take corporal punishment now."
"The thing that I would say is the difference between patience and tolerance," Holloday said. "They're young and sometimes they make young people's mistakes and we're very patient when those things are made, including this. But we're not tolerant of bad behavior or defiance."
I agree. I wonder if somebody there gets off on paddling teeanage girls...or boys.
Well, your name seems appropriate for the comment above... "all men dream". :)
Probably not gonna happen. But just goes to show the problem with this whole thread. It's not the suspension, it's the alternative punishment. Too weird.
And I don't think the dress is that bad - unlike many here. Certainly nothing I'd wear but I've seen far worse - I can't really tell how high the skirt is but the top doesn't seem terribly daring to me. It's a special event - not every day wear at school. But she was told, send her home if it's not appropriate, suspension is ridiculous.
“You’re a naughty girl, go to my office!”
I don’t any problem with the dress code, in fact, it could be stricter.
However, I think the punishment should simply be, “You can’t come in wearing that. Go home and either put on something that complies with the dress code, or stay home.”
The principal didn’t seem too bright in the interview, neither did the mother. The girl seemed smarter than both of them.
As for the dress, I wouldn’t let my daughters wear it, but it wasn’t THAT bad. Still, if it violated the dress code, she should have been sent home to change, but not suspended and especially not paddled.
I wonder if purchasing it online contributed to the problem. It might not have been clear how revealing it was, until the girl tried it on.
Did she participate in an undercover ACORN sting on the way to the prom?
see post 59 BS
The dress is not that bad, but if it violates a cleavage rule, then a good solution would be having a few t-shirts or scarves at the door, for a girl to throw on and cover up. My sister, who teaches middle school, keeps t-shirts on hand to cover up the girls who show up to school with skimpy tops. Also, I used to know a judge from Arizona whose court had a dress code. Attorneys needed to wear a tie, despite the laid-back desert culture. If they forgot their tie, there was a selection of really tacky ones at the court from which they could choose. Something like that can be done for the dance, that still lets the person attend, but gently reminds them of the standards for the event.
You are more than welcome to that skank in #19. Take her, she’s yours. UGH
My bad, wardaddy. I apologize.
you don’t owe me hon...I put my foot in my bigassed mouth without really looking at the girl....I just saw all that spillage and figured chunky...and I was sure wrong...she is dang cute
but the rules were pretty plain weren’t they?
*ps....I was barred from my prom...long hair and the stench of ganja....a soon to be conservative one day Jeff Spiccoli I was circa 1974-1975
dazed and confused and stupid and probably could not have gotten a date anyhow
the stench of ganja
Haven’t we all had a run- in with the medicinals? (I had to treat the glaucoma I might get in the future)...Summer 1987... I hope my kids never find out. God Bless, War Daddy!
Young lady, your clothing shows a lack of modesty. Therefore, you must bend over in front of the principal and let him smack your ass.
Talk about mixed messages!
Not surprising that this happened in Alabama (see related: Judge Herman Thomas).
Do you believe that there are some places where "Swim Wear" standards are not appropriate?
This is a school dance, not a beach party.
Your argument is straight out of Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals." Just because a certain amount of skin is alright where bikini's are allowed doesn't mean it should be shown in any venue.
If that's photo of one of those weird polygamy cults, I'm guessing those women are pretty much baby factories and "hitting that" starts around puberty.
Paddling teenage girls for wearing skimpy clothes? Does this not sound a little perverted?
You never lost your mind, stormer; it ran away screaming.
This is true. When there were fewer "absent fathers," you could count on a dad to go to the school and sort out the situation. Few principles would have the guts to suggest that "paddling teenaged girls bottoms" was part of their job description.
Unfortunately, there aren't to many fathers in the households.
Depends if they like it or not?
Well, I'm drawing a mental image of the administrator doing the paddling and he looks a lot like this guy:
If you don't know who he is, sorry, I'm not gonna say anymore.
The money quote? “I’m not gonna take no corporal punishment. This ain’t the 1940s...”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.