posted on May 17, 2004 09:38:20 AM new
Teen Sent Home From Ceremony For 'Revealing' Dress
CINCINNATI -- Imagine it's a special day at school, and you're asked to leave because of what you're wearing.
That's what happened to a 13-year-old girl at Holy Family Catholic School in Price Hill on the day of her May crowning and graduation pictures, WLWT Eyewitness News 5's Brian Hamrick reported.
"I don't think nothing was wrong with the dress," eighth-grader Dannielle Fuqua said. But she was told otherwise because the dress was too revealing, according to the principal.
"I was crying until I got home, and I was still crying when I got home," Fuqua said.
Added her mother, Kathy Meyer: "They said Dannielle's dress showed too much cleavage."
Meyer bought the dress for her daughter because it was so similar to the one Dannielle wore to confirmation, and there were no problems with it, according to the family. Meyer added that Dannielle is simply mature for her age, and that's the only reason the dress shows perhaps more than it would on others.
"There's cleavage, but when you're as big as Dannielle, there's going to be cleavage," Meyer said. "There's nothing I can do about that."
No one from the school wanted to talk to Hamrick on-camera, but officials said they felt they made the right decision, and added that the dress didn't meet the standards for the occasion.
According to a letter sent home to parents, dresses should reveal no cleavage. Also, Catholic schools are allowed to set their own standards, Hamrick reported. But Fuqua said she's convinced it's a simple case of over-reaction.
"It's not something I intended to do, to get the wrong dress so I wouldn't be able to go to May crowning and graduation," she said.
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on May 17, 2004 09:39:55 AM new
I think this school has bigger problems than cleavage when one of their student can come up with this statement.....
"I don't think nothing was wrong with the dress,"
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on May 17, 2004 09:59:00 AM new
LOL @ [nothing....]
Rules are rules and they're meant to be followed. Paper sent home adressed the issue - that's a pre-warning, imo.
Could a compromise have been worked out? Probably....but then teens do tend to push a lot of the limits that are set for them. This [to me] teaches someone means what they say. It's not just an idle threat....but there are consequences when one doesn't following the rules.
posted on May 17, 2004 10:02:23 AM new
Before taking off....I just wanted to add that when I was in a *public* high school we had rules on the length our skirts/dresses were to be. If *any* teacher felt it was to short, they told you to kneel down - right there and then. If your skirt length didn't touch the ground you were sent home to change.
I remember those days! LOL! I also remember not being allowed to wear nylons or pants. It was a happy, happy day when we were finally able to wear pants. I was in high school.
posted on May 17, 2004 07:18:04 PM new
I haven't read the particulars of the story in this thread, but I'd tend to wonder about just how much this kid was pushing boundaries at a Catholic school. I also can understand what the girl's mother is saying. At my school, a less developed kid can get away with murder in terms of short shorts or a spaghetti strap t-shirt, but the early bloomers get nailed right away...seems pretty unfair to me. Out here in the sticks girls have to be forced to wear skirts, so it's not an issue, but our shorts length rule is the end of your fingertips with arms held straight down at your sides, no kneeling down!!...great way to get hauled into court... Moms complain to me that they can't buy longer shorts for their girls, the short ones are all the stores are stocking. Personally, I leave the fashion enforcements to the lady teachers as long as they're not flagrant, and around here they rarely are. I don't want my girls thinking I'm looking at them close enough to even notice whether their shorts are too short !
When I was in high school, (private, not religious) there was a P.E. teacher named (I am not making this up) Mr. Christian, who stood around outside during class changes with a little ruler. Sideburns could not be longer than 1/2 inch above the bottom of your earlobe. No kidding! This buffoon would collar boys and measure their sideburns and god help the poor kid whose burns were an eighth of an inch too long. Off to the nurse for a shave, and a 1000 word essay on the importance of following rules. We survived these indignities and the lesson we got from them was priceless, to wit: The world is full of morons, figure out how to deal with them or your life will be hell.
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When a dog howls at the moon, we call it religion. When he barks at strangers, we call it patriotism. - Edward Abbey
Personally, it's not the most attractive dress I've ever seen, but neither is it all that revealing, considering. The "problem" seems to be that this girl is very well-developed for an 8th grader. Which is hardly her fault.
If the school wanted all the girls to wear dresses with Peter Pan collars that showed nothing below the base of the neck, they should have said so. But then, such an order would have been almost impossible to comply to unless the girls went to a Mormon, Amish or Mennonite supplier. These days, they just don't make teen dresses that way in the mainstream.
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