Listen up. We're used to wacky Florida stories hitting the internet from time to time (well, daily), but this one is really out there. A school in Florida broke the internet in 2021. That's because the Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns County did something that was so bizarre and so deeply offensive that people everywhere are shaking their heads and saying, "Seriously?"
Here's what went down. The school yearbook was released, and well, people couldn't help but notice that a bunch of the photos — about 80 to be exact, and all of girls — had been altered.
"Why?" you might ask, as you rightly should. Oh, because the school thought the photos, which are all pretty adorable and show high school girls looking exactly like high school girls, were offensive. They altered the photos to cover skin and barely visible cleavage that, sorry-not-sorry, you'd have to be trying really, really hard to sexualize these girls to even see.
This story is really frustrating on so many levels. But the worst part is that these kids weren't even notified (nor were their parents) about their photos being altered. So they literally received their yearbooks and realized that they were changed.
Can you imagine how taken aback these girls must've been? You go to get your photo taken, attempting to look your best, only to have your photo edited. Why? Because your body is being viewed as wrong, bad, or otherwise inappropriate by your school administration. The only thing that is bad, wrong, or inappropriate is the fact that this was done in the first place.
Not only is this a horrible message to send teenage girls about their bodies (as if teenage girls don't already have to combat that just about everywhere), it's flat-out sexualizing these girls. And truth be told, their photos did not look remotely sexual in the first place. Clearly, the girls aren't the ones with the issue — it's the administration that has a problem.
It looks like the person responsible for the decision was a teacher at the school who is also the yearbook administrator. According to the school's website, all photos in the yearbook must be consistent with the dress code or they "may be digitally adjusted." But let's just put aside the fact that dress codes almost always target girls for just a second. Because even if that weren't already definitely true, we wouldn't be able to avoid the double standard in this situation, as boys were literally pictured in their speedo swimsuits in the very same yearbook.
This school has come under fire before in regard to its strict dress code policies and how they impact girls before. Earlier this year, girls were taken out of class for wearing tank tops underneath their hoodies. Yes, you read that right. Girls reported they were asked to unzip their fully zipped sweatshirts in front of other students and teachers to reveal that they were wearing tank tops and sports bras.
It's all just really infuriating. But no one is more irritated than the parents of these kids. They paid $100 for the school yearbooks only to have their daughters' photos altered without their knowledge or permission based purely on a sexist policy.
The school is now weighing making changes to the dress code. It's probably just because of all the negative media attention and the parents collectively freaking out. But hey, at least the school is even considering making changes.
Superintendent Tim Forson seems to be supportive of making those changes. "We can do better," he said in an interview with News4Jax. “There’s never a place for us, for our action to be such that would be causing mental anguish. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have standards, we absolutely should have standards, and that should include dress code standards.”
