Looks fine to me.
Posted on 02/25/2005 2:15:14 PM PST by Mr.Pinette
GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. -- After a spirited discussion over a photo of a girl wearing a tuxedo at Thursday's Clay County School Board meeting, the principal's decision to ban the picture from the Fleming Island High School yearbook stands.
The banned photo of Kelli Davis. Kelli Davis, 18, had her senior class photo taken in a tuxedo top and bow-tie outfit provided for boys rather than the gown-like drape and pearls provided for girls. The school's principal decided it could not appear in the yearbook because she didn't follow the dress code.
Kelli, a straight-A student with no discipline problems, is a self-proclaimed lesbian. She said she was uncomfortable to have her chest exposed in the photo.
"Because that's me, you know. That represents me. The drape does not," Davis said. "They're not accepting me, that's the whole reason we're here."
Davis denies it's about her sexual orientation, just about a student not following the rules.
"There's a dress code to follow -- a dress code expected for senior pictures in the yearbook, and she chose not to follow them. It's just that simple," Clay School Superintendent David Owens said.
More than half of the 24 people who addressed the controversy supported using Davis' picture in the yearbook, some applauding after Cindi Davis, the teen's mother, asked the board "What is so offensive about this tiny picture?"
Cindi Davis asked the school board not only to reverse the principal's decision on the photo, but to apologize for firing the yearbook editor, who voiced her support of publishing the photo.
While the board's ruling will keep the photo from appearing with other senior pictures, it will appear in the yearbook. Kelli's parents bought a two-page ad in the back of the book for $700, which will feature the picture.
Looks fine to me.
I'd rather see a girl in a tux than a lot of that slutty "prom wear" that girls wear these days.
I'm not a lesbian, but I would have been more comfortable, as a teenage tomboy, in the tux rather than the drape and pearls.
Is it wrong that she wants to cover her body. I think not. I give her some credit for having some decorum.
Uh..no it isn't.
It's obvious to me that these guys intend to run for office. A decision this stupid could only come from somebody with political ambitions.
I think her photo should be allowed. But who's she kidding, if it's really just about not wanting wear a particular dress she could have choosen something elese. That she choose to wear the standard dress code for the boys had everything to do with her wanting to be in your face about her sexuality.
Fine, then she doesn't have to appear in that section of the yearbook.
Looks OK to me too.
Not so very different from service academy photos.
But then maybe the school board is the type that dislikes the military.
I think it looks fine. Sort of like a waitress, but if that's what she likes, who cares?
I think the question here is, what kind of school expects students to wear tuxedos and gowns for yearbook photos? Someone already suggested service academies, but I mean, regular schools?
There are plenty of modest dresses, so that's clearly not the issue. For a declared lesbian to wear a tuxedo in a school picture is clearly a political statement, and the school has a right to ban it.
Yeah, better than the boy next year who will show up in a spaghetti strap gown for his picture, if the school had allowed it to stand.
It looks like she didn't have a choice of a modest dressed. Some schools allow seniors to submit any decent photo of the correct size, but others require (and provide) a uniform outfit. The "drape" they used when I had senior pictures taken showed more skin than I ever do, since my conversion.
I wonder what the school would have done if a girl wanted to wear a high-necked blouse for religious reasons?
That is, "modest dress."
I must side with the school on this one. Rules are rules and she broke them. What a shame it is that her parents encourage this type of behavior and are willing to spend money to approve it.
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