Student Wears Short Skirt to School, Gets Punished With 'Shame Suit'

A school in Florida forced a teen girl to wear a “shame suit” in an effort to publicly humiliate her for violating the dress code policy.

On her third day of classes at a brand new school (she had recently moved from Seattle to Orange Park) Miranda Larkin, 15, was stopped by a teacher and told her skirt was too short. She told WJXX officials at Oakleaf High School said for violating the dress code, she would be forced to wear a “shame suit,” a baggy t-shirt that said “DRESS CODE VIOLATOR” and sweat pants.

Because teens aren’t already living in a daily hellhole of insecurity and bullying. Let’s literally make them stand out in a crowd, forcing them to get noticed and laughed at. For fuck’s sake.

Miranda said the violation was an honest mistake and that as a new student she didn’t know her skirt didn’t conform to the dress code. “The school has said this is to embarrass you,” she said. “It’s supposed to embarrass you so you don’t do it again.”

Gee, that’s funny. I thought in general, school administrators insisted on dress codes regarding girls’ clothing because things like short skirts created too much of a “distraction” on campus. But putting a giant neon yellow t-shirt on them and making them the target of ridicule isn’t distracting? That’s ridiculous. As Miranda’s mother, Diane Larkin said in a letter to the media, “It does not lessen the disruption in school, it enhances it.”

First they shame her for wearing a short skirt (GOD FORBID) and then to make sure she knows just awful and shamed she should feel about daring to show a few inches of the leg above her knee, they literally force her to stand out in a crown with a giant shirt that tells everyone she’s a shameful dress code violator. This is some Biblical-type levels of insanity. Was the school out of stones to pelt her with for showing too much skin?

What unnecessary, lazy bullshit. Via ABC News:

A spokesman from the Clay County school district told ABC News affiliate WJXX in Jacksonville, Florida, that students who violate the dress code are given three options: to stay in their clothes and go to in-school-suspension, to wear the sweats and t-shirt as punishment and continue going to class as usual, or to arrange for someone to bring them a new set of clothes.

Miranda said she was only given one option — to wear the humiliating outfit. “Those options aren’t presented to you,” she said. “You have to ask for ISS. People who have asked if they can call home for a change of clothes have been told no.”

Her mother [Diane Larkin] said the school bullied her daughter and violated her rights.

Her mother contacted the media after she said was running into a “brick wall” trying to get answers about this type of punishment from the school district.

“I really do believe in punishing my kids if they do something wrong,” said Larkin, “But this is not about punishing kids. This is about humiliation….My problem is not with the dress code itself. I am actually a proponent of school uniforms….My problem is with the public shaming of kids.”

Good point. Just what is up with schools singling out and humiliating young women as a means of enforcing their shitty, sexist dress codes anyway?

A district spokesperson told ABC News that they were open to other suggestions for how to handle dress code violations. Well gee, school district. Let’s see….how about NOT humiliating a 15-year-old girl in front of her peers like this? How about not using the potential ridicule of teenage high school students as a method of punishment and threat for young people who already have to deal with enough crap getting through a day school as it is. How about that?