A judge ruled that a charter school's ban on girls wearing pants was unconstitutional.

[ShazzieB]

The school is pushing back.

Shivering during outdoor lunches. Barred from sitting cross-legged on the floor like the boys. Restricted from playing soccer or doing cartwheels during recess. This is how three girls described the daily discomforts they experienced as a result of their school’s dress code, in statements to a federal court.

The judge ruled in their favor, in a court decision that was supposed to usher in a new day for girls attending Charter Day School in North Carolina. In March 2019, U.S. District Judge Malcolm Howard found that the school’s dress code, which banned its female students from wearing shorts or pants, was unconstitutional, violating the students’ rights to equal protection under the law.

But the elementary and middle public charter school in Leland, N.C., fought back, defending its right to institute a school policy that, in its founder’s words, was meant to “preserve chivalry and respect among young women and men.

More at the link: https://www.thelily.com/a-judge-ruled-that-a-charter-schools-ban-on-girls-wearing-pants-was-unconstitutional-the-school-is-pushing-back/

The way this school is pushing back on this makes my head hurt. I thought the whole "girls MUST wear dresses" mindset was a thing of the past, except in certain fundamentalist religious circles. But now here I am in the twenty freaking first century, reading on the internet about a school that actually has that rule, right here and now. WTAF. And their excuse is, of all things, chivalry. As my grandmother used to say, lord have mercy!

Don't get me wrong; there's absolutely nothing wrong with wearing dresses, if that's what one chooses to do. What's wrong is not allowing girls to have a choice and running a school in such a way that gender roles are strictly circumscribed in a discrimatory, not to mention highly anachronisticway. What this school is doing is just gross, afaic.

[hedda_foil]

1. This is a fundamentalist private school that still practices this shit.

[reACTIONary]

20. If it is a charter school as the article states...

... it is publicly funded, so it doesn't count as a private school. They may be catering to fundies, but they would have to be careful.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) prohibits sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity) discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

Since they are a charter, funded through the state, which receives funding from the feds, I would think this applies.

[Walleye]

2. 1/3 of the people in this country are living in the 50s

I had to wear a dress to school every day for 12 years. Made me into a dedicated feminist

[we can do it]

17. Same here for the most part.

Won’t put a dress on for any reason now.

[Walleye]

18. I'm with you on that. Fortunately I had a job where I didn't have to.

I quit wearing bras and pantyhose when I graduated high school too

[we can do it]

25. Me too! Pantyhose even worse than dresses.

[ShazzieB]

22. When did you graduate?

I had to wear a dress or skirt to school every day till I got to college. I graduated high school in 1968, and my school changed its dress code the fall of the same year.

Just wondering if we were going to school in the same or a similar time frame.

[Walleye]

24. You got that right. I graduated in 1967. Caesar Rodney high school

We had to wear little skirts to play field hockey. Don’t know when they changed the rules, probably soon after I left. But are the girls these days grateful to us for resisting? no

[Wounded Bear]

3. Forcing girls in school to wear dresses/skirts is just plain stupid...

In my fatigue of trying to make nice with idiots living in past centuries, I'm fast getting to IDGAF mode.

[SheltieLover]

4. Charter schools have all kinds of odd rules & charge students when rules are broken!

A friend who had the misfortune to teach at one in Chicago informed me of this! No wonder qpukes love charter schools - another way to grift!

This is a ridiculous rule! I have to wonder what kind of parents wouldsend their kids to such a school?

[CurtEastPoint]

5. From their 'pledge...'

I pledge to be truthful in all my works,
guarding against the stains of falsehood from
the fascination with experts,
the temptation of vanity,
the comfort of popular opinion and custom,
the ease of equivocation and compromise, and
from over-reliance on rational argument.

[ShazzieB]

23. So they see "over-reliance on rational argument" that leads to the "stains of falsehood"!

Holy crap, that's almost worse than the dress code.

Almost. They're both awful.

[Srkdqltr]

6. If this is a "private" school and they make the rules shouldn't the people going there know about

the rules in advance? Seems to me that they went along with the rule to begin with, or, didn't read the rules before they sent their kids to the school.
Or was it bait and switch? did the school put in the clothing rule after school started and they got the parents money?

[Happy Hoosier]

8. They are a public charter school...

Essentially a school completely funded by public money, but run by a private company.

Normally it’d seem obvious to me that such a school would have to meet public education standards, but with the evangelical Taliban in the courts these days? Who knows!?

[Srkdqltr]

10. OK. It's just that people sending kids there knew the rules beforehand.

I think the rule is ridiculous. Most school dress codes are.
When I went to high school we could not wear slacks to school and we rode city buses that we had to wait a long time for on snow days. Most of us girls had frostbite on the backs of our legs. Of course we could have worn "snow pants" under our dresses but that wasn't fashion forward.

[Happy Hoosier]

11. If it were privately funded, I would agree.

But it's not. It's funded by tax dollars. That changes things.

[reACTIONary]

21. Exactly, +100 nt

[Deuxcents]

7. Geezz

This is the 21st century..not the Stone Age..I’m exaggerating but.. I, too, had to wear dress/skirt to public school but that was in the 50’s. especially in cold weather.. this is cruel. Parents do this to their kids..choice, ya know.

[kimbutgar]

9. I went to Catholic school and we had to wear skirts with our uniforms

On cold days we’d wear pants under those skirts outside and then take then off when we came inside.

In my early working career after high school I worked in an office and you could wear pants only if it was a matching two piece pants outfit. In the 80’s i worked in an investment banking and we could never wear pants. It wasn’t until the 90’s pants in the office became suitable but only if it was with a suit!

Sounds like some creepy old leeches like to look at young girls legs.

[electric_blue68]

12. Jfc! I remember telling my parents in ?'66 5th grade it was unfair...

that we couldn't wear pants in the winter (NYC)!
I don't remember if we won. Can't remember about JHS, either.

But when I got to our specialized Music & Art HS in
'67 we could! Yes!

I love pants, jeans! I also love some nice skirts, and dresses that I have.

[malaise]

13. Great news

Rec

[ancianita]

14. The school is pushing back because this is about the privatized owners who demand the control

of their commerce terms.

There are no 'human' rights when you pay your money for even the basic necessities of life in Big Corpsistan. Big Corps puts fems in their dress code place. It will sort and hierarchalize and brainwash everyone about what is "normal" and "appropriate" and "comfortable."

[Demovictory9]

15. had to wear dresses in the 70s... public school too... what decade are we in?

[Traildogbob]

16. Probably the LAST one.

[pansypoo53219]

19. i fucking hate skirts/dresses. make us easier to rape too.