‘These children feel objectified’ | Fort Mill parents say new dress code policy is more of the same

FORT MILL, S.C. — As more students get back into the classroom after a year of remote learning, parents in Fort Mill, South Carolina, claim female students are unfairly penalized by a new dress code. 

In January 2020, the Fort Mill school board adopted the new dress code. The district said it was meant to be more gender-neutral and would allow violations to be handled in privately in a more professional manner. They also said the new system would minimize students' time out of the classroom. 

One of the biggest changes to the dress code was no longer measuring the length of shorts or skirts. Instead, the policy states they must be at least mid-thigh. 

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Yet still, some parents argue this updated dress code is subjective and has now created added stress for some students who no longer wear shorts just to avoid the risk of being dress coded.

“These children feel objectified and shamed,” parent Gretchen Kelly said. “It’s just very damaging to do that to children.”

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While parents feel some of their dress code concerns from last year were addressed, many say not all of the issues have been resolved with the new policy. Some of the continuing issues include claims of teachers and administrators targeting girls who are curvier and also calling students out in front of others.

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“One of our biggest asks of the dress code policy last year was not only to have transparent training of all of the staff so it’s applied evenly and gender neutrally and the staff gets trained how to do it in the correct way," Kelly said.

Another request is that all dress code violations be properly documented. A spokesperson for Fort Mill Schools says if parents or students feel like the new policy isn’t being properly implemented they should express those concerns with school administrators.

Now concerned parents have created a live Google doc that anyone can update to document the details of when their student was given a dress code violation. 

The plan is to eventually present these concerns to the Fort Mill School Board. 

 Contact Briana Harper at bharper@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.