#High school yearbook photos altered code#

“It’s also how people view our bodies,” she said. The issue also goes beyond the dress code, O’Keefe said. “I’m really hoping that the school takes a long look at how everyone views women’s bodies and takes a leadership role in trying to change that view,” O’Keefe said. The inequity between the boys’ and girls’ dress codes is something that some female students and their parents want addressed.

#High school yearbook photos altered code#

Some students argue the dress code protects male students

“There’s got to be some kind of happy medium where our girls can feel comfortable going to school, feel confident, but yet still appropriate.” “That affects their self-esteem and creates even more body issues,” she said. She’s found that it’s been difficult to find clothing that complies with the dress code and when her daughter does find something, she doesn’t always feel good in it, Bartlett said. “It’s mental health awareness, and they just completely botched that for all of these kids.”īartlett, like Fabre, finds the school dress code to be too strict for girls, she said. “I do worry about some of these other kids who might not be handling it as well as Brooke and how this could be really damaging for their mental health long term,” she said. While Brooke initially laughed at the terrible Photoshop edit on her portrait, it made her mother worry about what this could do to the teens long term, Bartlett said.

“But over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a lot of our kids wearing these big baggy sweatshirts 24/7, whether it’s winter or summer.” “In Florida, it’s hot 90 percent of the year here,” Bartlett said. Brooke’s come a long way and only recently started feeling comfortable wearing clothes to school that weren’t baggy sweatshirts, she said. Her daughter was hospitalized and is undergoing treatment for mental health issues, Bartlett said. “I think that’s the completely wrong message to give to young teenage girls who are already going through the body shaming era and trying to understand themselves and then be comfortable with themselves.”īrooke, whose last name her mother asked not be used, has struggled with mental health and body image issues, and the pandemic has made things harder, her mother said. “You’re telling my daughter that she should be ashamed of that part of her body, that she should be covering it up,” Bartlett said. “There needs to be a systematic change in the dress code.”Īdrian Bartlett, another parent who is hoping the school changes the dress code, said her daughter, 15-year-old freshman Brooke, also noticed her yearbook photo had been altered. “It should be equal across the board,” Fabre said. She referred to the dress code talking about students not being allowed to wear culottes.

The district dress code also prohibits attire that displays “profanity, violence, discriminatory messages, sexually suggestive phrases, advertisements, phrases or symbols of alcohol, tobacco or drugs.”īut some parents say the dress code is outdatedįabre and some other parents are calling for a change in the district’s dress code. Mustaches and beards shall be neatly trimmed.” Pajamas and revealing clothing are not permitted. No boxer shorts or underwear may be visible. The rules for boys include “boy’s pants/slacks must be worn at the waist. While the dress code for girls and boys each have three entries, the list of rules for boys is shorter. Hair curlers and excessive make-up shall not be permitted.” It also says, “Revealing clothing, pajamas and lingerie are not acceptable. The girls’ section says girls cannot wear skirts that are shorter than four inches from the top of the knee.

Under the “All Students” section, it says, “Tank tops and shirts are not acceptable except in physical education classes.” In the section about all students, the dress code says “students are prohibited from wearing clothing that exposes underwear or that exposes body parts in an indecent or vulgar manner.” “There’s inequality within their dress code.” “It comes on the heels of a much bigger issue of gender discrimination and these girls being targeted and sexualized for being told that their clothes are wrong,” she said. It’s the district’s dress code that needs to be revisited for its inequity with how it treats what girls wear, as opposed to boys, the student’s parent said. The anger over the edited yearbook photos is part of a larger issue, said Fabre. However, each school’s principal has the “final authority” over whether a student’s dress is appropriate, the code says. The student dress code prohibits clothing that is “immodest, revealing, or distracting,” according to the district’s code of conduct.