Every year high school students push the envelope on what is and what is not acceptable to wear in the classroom. Dress code violations make the news very frequently – often because the conservative nature of schools is very out of date. Some students share their photos of their outfits on social media to prove that what they were wearing truly was not risqué at all. And that’s exactly what happened to one female student with a 4.4 GPA who was unfairly targeted by her school. Now she is fighting back…
Summer was near the top of her class with a 4.4 GPA. She was consistently on the honor roll and was one of the best students at Hickory Ridge High School in North Carolina. But when she wore a green shirt to school last week, the administrators threw a fit.
Now she has been suspended and was barred from walking at her graduation. Because of the school’s harsh punishment, she may lose her hard-earned college scholarships.
After showing up to school with a green shirt that exposed her collar bones, the principal approached the senior and ordered her to put on a jacket. In response, Summer told her principal that she thought the shirt was “fine.” The principal did not like being talked back to and said that not only were her collar bones exposed but her lower back was “also completely exposed.”
The principal said that this went against school dress code.
Because Summer has always been a model student, she followed the principals command although she didn’t agree with it. She put on a jacket and zipped it all the way up.
But her teacher then attacked her, ordering the honor roll student to change her clothes. Summer had had enough and protested.
“I completely understand why a dress code is put into place but I feel like after I put on that jacket it should have been subdued,” Summer told WCNC.
Summer admits that she has gotten into trouble with the principal before. And they have had problems. Now her mother must be informed about any disciplinary action taken against Summer before the punishment is instituted.
When the school failed to contact her mother, things escalated quickly.
Summer joined her classmates for an assembly, but the principal sicced a security guard on Summer.
“The security guard was within five feet of me, he had his hand on his gun. The principal said, ‘I’m gonna give you an ultimatum. We have tried to call your mother. You either come with me to the control room to change your shirt or we will arrest you,’” she said. “I stayed in my seat just like a lot of role models that I have looked up to stayed in their seats. I mean, you have to stand up for what you believe in.”
Summer was suspended and barred from graduation.
“It’s just sad because I worked so hard for four years to walk across that stage,” she said. “We have drug dealers walking across that stage, we have sex offenders walking across that stage and then the 4.4 student who showed her shoulders can’t.”
