Kimberly Jones said her 6th-grade daughter was harassed and embarrassed after a dress code violation at Lansing Middle School Wednesday.
Jones went to Facebook after the ordeal. The post has been shared more than 1,500 times in two days.
41 Action News spoke exclusively with Lansing Middle School Principal Kerry Brungardt Friday about why the outfit was a violation.
"We just don't think it's dress code appropriate unless it's worn with a top that meets our dress code protocol, which is six inches from the knee," said Brungardt. "The dress code for this year and last year basically has not changed. All new parents, this girl's parents, received the new dress code at our new parent orientation. I even had a discussion with them.”
Brungardt said the 6th-grader’s top was two inches too short in the front, an angle of the outfit not seen in the Facebook picture.
Jones is confused because her daughter was given sweatpants to wear, which is the school's protocol for switching inappropriate pants.
"The nurse decided that she was not in code and told her you have to wear these sweat pants. You cannot call your mom and she's not allowed to bring you a change of clothes," said Jones.
Jones told 41 Action News that they are new to the area. Her daughter just started at her new school last week. She said they called the school regarding what they may have missed at one of the parent orientations and were instructed by a staff member to read the dress code listed on the website.
However, Brungardt said the dress code on the website wasn't updated until Thursday. The new update added the exclusion of "leggings." Dress codes from previous years listed the '6-inch to the knee' rule.
"We never tell a student they cannot contact their parents. That's is absolutely false. That message is out there. It's not true," said Brungardt. "Usually the truth is somewhere in the middle, at the very least, and people out there have just believed what this parent has said and taken it at face value. And it's gone like wild fire and that's very unfortunate. So if I had anything I hoped people would do it’s step back and look at the situation in an adult way and try to consider both sides ... If I had known this was gonna be this kind of explosion I probably would have made an exception.”
Jones said it was never her or her daughter’s intention to defy the dress code policy.
"We honesty would not have let her wear that if we thought it was gonna be an issue ... I'm not against dress codes. Common sense is what needs to be applied here," she said.
Jones said her daughter has still been attending school and has started a petition to change the dress code policy.
41 Action News looked at other middle school dress codes around the metro including KCPS, Shawnee Mission, Blue Valley, Independence, Olathe and North Kansas City. None of the dress code policies read by 41 Action News had a specific exclusion for leggings.
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Josh Helmuth can be reached at josh.helmuth@kshb.com
