Students to Fight Draconian Dress Code in Federal Court

Plaintiff Keely Burks wearing her school uniform. (Photo: ACLU)

A federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday is challenging a draconian dress code that requires girls to wear knee-length skirts, skorts, or jumpers to school. The plaintiffs are challenging Charter Day School in Leland, N.C., and being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union

The case, which is being fought under Title IX (a law prohibiting discrimination based on sex in federally funded education programs), has been brought by three students — ages 5, 10, and 14 — who claim the statute victimizes the young females and disinhibits them daily, whether it’s sitting in a powwow or playing outside.

Keely Burks, one of the complainants, drafted a petition last year to get the school to amend the clause that mandates female students to wear “knee-length or longer” skirts (pants or shorts are permissible strictly for gym class). Despite the petition’s receiving more than 100 signatures and the case having parental support, the administration insisted that the measure was put in place to promote “chivalry” and “traditional values.” Interestingly, the years-old policy was also enacted, according to Baker A. Mitchell Jr., Charter Day School’s founder, in response to the 1999 Columbine school shootings.

“Personally, I hate wearing skirts. Even with tights and leggings, skirts are cold to wear in the winter, and they’re not as comfortable as shorts in the summer,” Burks, who is in eighth grade, wrote in a blog post. “I love playing outside, especially soccer and gymnastics. When we go outside for recess, the boys in my class will sometimes play soccer or do flips and cartwheels. But I feel like I can’t because I’m wearing a skirt.” Bonnie Peltier, the mother of another plaintiff, added that her daughter often feels uncomfortable wearing a skirt, and it even distracts from daily studies.

“Although many girls may not mind wearing skirts, no one should be forced to do so based on outdated sex stereotypes,” Galen Sherwin, a senior staff lawyer at the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, said. “Requiring all girls to wear skirts reinforces the false notion that girls are less physically active, and should behave in a more typically feminine manner, than boys. Our clients correctly believe that they are equal to boys and should be treated equally by their school — and luckily, the law backs them up.”

The ACLU has been involved in a number of cases recently involving schools disregarding this mandate. In Manteca, Calif., the organization won in court on behalf of a lesbian student who wore a “Nobody Knows I’m a Lesbian” T-shirt. It also urged the Clovis Unified School District, which recently saw its students dressing as their opposite genders in protest of its dress code, to comply with California state law. While there aren’t any national laws governing fashion guidelines, dress codes are forbidden from discriminating based on federally protected status, such as disability, gender, and race.

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