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Clay County Mother Files Complaint Over Dress Code Violation Punishment

Miranda Larkin, 16, stands in a Oakleaf High School bathroom after changing into the dress code violation outfit given to her by the school nurse. This is the photo she sent to her mother, Dianna. The yellow T-shirt and red pants have "Dress Code Violation" written on them.
Miranda Larkin, 16, stands in a Oakleaf High School bathroom after changing into the dress code violation outfit given to her by the school nurse. This is the photo she sent to her mother, Dianna. The yellow T-shirt and red pants have "Dress Code Violation" written on them.

A Clay County high school student’s mom is firing back against her daughter’s school dress code policy following an incident on the first week of school.

When Miranda Larkin was told by a teacher her skirt’s length did not comply with Oakleaf High School’s dress code on Aug. 14, she was given a dress code violation outfit to wear for the rest of the day. The outfit was a pair of red pants and a bright yellow T-shirt, both visibly dispalying the words “Dress Code Violation.”

Clay County School District spokesman Gavin Rollins said the original reasoning behind the outfit was not to shame the student.

“The intent of the policy and the design of the shirt is not in any way to humiliate or publicly call out or draw attention to a student,” Rollins said. “It was simply used as mechanism to know which shirts were ours so we didn’t lose them.”

Students were taking home the clothes supplied by the school and never returning them, so this was a way to keep track of the outfits.

Rollins said Clay County schools give three options to dress code violators: change into the school outfit, call a parent or legal guardian to bring a change of clothes or in-school suspension.

However, Miranda Larkin said she was only given one option that day, which was to wear the outfit. She was then allowed to call her mother, who was shocked when her daughter sent her a picture of the outfit.

“I was furious," Dianna Larkin said. "I told her, 'You’re not going to classes dressed like that.' My problem was not with the punishment -- it was the style of punishment. There’s just not a viable reason to shame students. It’s just cruel.”

Dianna Larkin has since filed a complaint with FERPA. She said the policy breaches the privacy of her daughter’s disciplinary record.

Miranda Larkin, who has just moved to Florida, said her skirt was three inches above the knee that morning, which complied with the Clay County School District’s dress code. However, each individual school has the ability to tighten the grip on dress code policies, which in Oakleaf’s case meant requiring skirts to be at the knees or lower -- a detail Miranda was not aware of on her third day of school.

"I was really embarrassed and really upset because I don’t get in trouble a lot," she said. "I felt like I had done something wrong without even realizing it."

If a student violates the dress code in Alachua County, the first offense is met with a verbal warning and a call to parents, according to the Student Code of Conduct.

Eileen Roy, an Alachua County School Board member, said the punishment in this case was “bizarre.” In an email, she likened it to branding young women with scarlet letters.

“It would never be a policy in this county,” Roy said.

On Friday, Dianna Larkin met with the superintendent of Clay County Schools, Charlie Van Zant Jr. She was told the school board is collecting feedback for a possible policy revision.

“We’re (Clay County Schools) reviewing the policies and looking at possibly standardizing the dress code across the districts, but that’s still in preliminary discussion,” Rollins said. “We’re not open to the possibility of watering down discipline, but we are open to figuring out what the best way to do that is.”

Rollins said the school district has received both positive and negative responses from parents regarding the punishment.

Diana Larkin said her goal isn't only to deal with Clay County Schools regarding the recent incident.

"I’m going to make it stop here, but really it has to stop nationally," she said.

Carla is a reporter for WUFT News and can be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.