Both parents and students alike are furious with the new dress code at Black River High School in Sullivan, Ohio. After years of being perfectly fine with the outfits, the school has banned cheerleaders from wearing their uniforms at school.
"My daughter's school spirit is broken," said Heather Yourich. Yourich's daughter is 17-year-old, varsity cheerleader Macie Kendall. The mother and daughter feel the school unfairly targets girls and teenagers.
"I think it's because our knees are distracting to the guys' education, is what the school is getting at," said Kendall. There isn't anywhere in the dress code policy that indicates boys can't wear shorts above the knee, so how can the school suggest it isn't viewing teenage girls' bodies differently than teenage boys' bodies?
"What we're trying to do is allow our students to worry about the job here of being educated and not worried about what they are wearing to school, or drawing attention to themselves," said superintendent Chris Clark.
Yourich and Kendall believe that kind of thinking is the issue: the idea that teenage girls are "drawing attention themselves," by wearing regular clothes.
Parents are especially concerned because the weather is still extremely hot and there is no air conditioning in the schools. A shorter skirt or pair of shorts is sometimes the only way to stay cool. Moreover, students and parents shouldn't be pressured to buy new clothes to get an education.
"The schools are like 90 degrees because there is no air conditioning," said Yourich.
Yourich has designed T-shirts for the girls to wear that state they're defending their first amendment rights. The shirts are in line with school policy and are a great way for the students to voice their opinions without getting into trouble.
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