Mom Shares An Open Letter To Principal Who Sent Her Daughter Dress Code Violation Warning

Summer is a challenging time for girls in school. It is a hot season and shopping for clothes could not be easy, especially if the school itself provides unrealistic guidelines on how they want girls (only) to dress.

In an open letter, Dr. Catherine Pearlman wrote to her daughter’s school principal and invited the school for shopping with her daughter.

“Thank you for sending a note home for the second day in a row to say my daughter was dressed inappropriately for school. I’d like to offer an additional thank you for forcing her to change into large mesh shorts that have been worn by only god knows who and potentially never washed.”

The mother said that if they will take her daughter shopping, they should know that she is a 5’7? 13-year-old girl, who is “built more like her father” who has “exceptionally long legs and arms.”

A mother penned a letter to her daughter's principal after a dress code violation. https://t.co/kMPJi0OUDC pic.twitter.com/a0stgP4pnC

— Mic (@mic) May 20, 2017

Dr. Pearlman added that her daughter does not like wearing pants because this makes her overheated easily. At the same time, her daughter does not like wearing dresses.

“No item of clothing can have a logo visible because to her that’s not cool. She will however, wear any type of superhero, Green Day or USFL T-shirt if you can find them. You might be able to try for an occasional Beatles reference but that’s touch and go.”

So while looking for her daughter’s preferences, they will also have to take into consideration the school’s dress code requirements.

“Here are the tricky areas that are most difficult to avoid. As per your policy she cannot wear tank tops. Shorts and skirts must not extend to the end of the fingertips (This is a toughie.)”

Dr. Pearlman added that because of the physique of her daughter, it has been challenging for them to shop for her clothes and at the same time adhere to the school’s policies. She even said that they’ve exhausted their Target shopping and nothing could fit both worlds.

In an interview with Yahoo! Style, Dr. Pearlman said that she did not actually send the letter, but she wanted to share her experiences with other parents.

Pearlman said this issue does not occur for boys and that her son is not reprimanded the same way her daughter is when it comes to dress codes.

“The boys wear clothes with pot leaves on them and apparently that’s appropriate but a girls stomach is cause for PE clothes to be worn in lieu of what her parents felt was appropriate to wear to school.”

Pearlman also said that her daughter tried to raise the issue to the school herself, but “the response was lame” and the school administration just forwarded the blame “on the district for the school policy.”

“The principal said she was only enforcing it. My daughter is graduating in 2 weeks so we just let it go,” she said.

Aside from the dress code targeting girls, the school is also discriminating against “tall or overweight girls.”

“The current styles are for shorter shorts. I wouldn’t let my daughter go to school with her butt hanging out, but I also don’t think she needs to wear bermuda shorts when no one else is wearing them,” Dr. Pearlman added. “It is hard enough being an adolescent girl without additional pressure of being the one kid who sticks out.”

Pearlman added that if the schools continue to enforce these kinds of policies, it would not teach children, boys and girls, the right message.

“P.S. I forgot to thank you for making it clear to my daughter that her body is somehow a distraction, either to herself or to the boys. I thought she might have missed the message earlier in the year when the gym teacher told her she couldn’t wear yoga pants because the boys aren’t able to control themselves. I appreciate how hard you are working to drive the point home.”

[Featured Image by Imgorthand/iStock]