School student cited for dress code violation for wearing a crewneck T-shirt

Students in Dickson County, Tenn., are missing class thanks to dress code violations, and they aren’t happy about it.

According to a local news channel, the school’s policy states that “students must wear collared or crew neck shirts with sleeves.” Despite seemingly adhering to the rules, high school senior Tori Taylor was pulled out of class twice in the few short days that school has been in session — once for wearing a pink crewneck T-shirt and again for wearing a white tee with a silk blouse. According to the local news channel, even though Taylor was wearing a crewneck top, she was told: “It wasn’t the right cut of a crewneck top.”

Taylor took her frustration to Twitter: “Please tell me what’s wrong with this?????”

“I spent a lot of money on my school clothes for my senior year,” Taylor told Tennessee’s Channel 5. “I can’t afford to buy a whole other set of school clothes just to question if it will be OK.”

Taylor is just one of multiple students who have been asked to leave class due to the “wrong” cut of crewneck shirt. (Which raises the question of whether the “wrong” T-shirt cut is really more disruptive to a student than missing class.) “The policy needs to be explained better,” says Taylor.

Dickson County High School principal Joey Holley reached out to Yahoo Style in an email statement, claiming that “99 percent of our students” do abide by the dress code. Holley claims that students were given a slideshow presentation of acceptable clothing on the first day of school, and multiple announcements and social media postsattempted to educate students on the policy. Here’s the full statement:

“Dickson County High School is proud to build good relationships with students, parents, and our community. We have a great school and we strive every day to keep it that way. The purpose of our dress code is to assure students will dress and groom in a clean, neat, and modest manner in order not to distract or interfere with the educational environment of the school. For the most part, 99 percent of our students have come to school within our dress code guidelines. As a reminder, we have communicated with students, parents, and community our dress code expectations for this school year.”

Crewnecks aren’t the only style that have led to administrative clashes over the dress code. Earlier this year, a Massachusetts school district landed on the news after allegations that its rules against hair extensions and braids with hair woven in unfairly targeted black students. The Anti-Defamation League got involved, and the debate could go all the way up to the Massachusetts Department of Education.

In Gulfport, Miss., a student made headlines after he was suspended for his pink hair. The school eventually accepted him back — once his hair was dyed back to his natural black.

Whether it’s pink hair or (gasp) a crewneck tee, these dress code clashes end up doing one thing: taking precious time away from students’ learning in the classroom.

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