An eighth grader in Cobb County, Georgia, is not happy after spending her first day of school in the front office due to what she and others claim is a “sexist” rule.
Sophia Trevino told 11 Alive she spent her first day in the office because a teacher found her in violation of one of Simpson Middle School’s 10 dress code rules, reading, “pants may be worn as long as there is no skin exposed above the fingertip length,” the outlet reported August 26.
According to the article, she wore ripped jeans and one of the holes that showed skin was above her fingertips. Her mother had to bring a change of clothes before she could go back to class.
“My mom came and she was mad and it was stupid rules and she pointed it out, why is it only girls,” Trevino explained, adding 16 girls received a violation, but boys did not.
Now, the young woman is pushing back against the school and advocating for a different dress code policy.
The week after her violation, she designed a shirt with the message “Dress codes are sexist, racist, classist” printed on it as a form of protest the 13-year-old wears to school every day.
Trevino also launched a change.org website that said its movement is to “End Discriminatory Dress Codes in School.”
As of Saturday afternoon, the page had garnered 2,320 signatures.
On Fridays, several of Trevino’s classmates woar the shirts she made to join the protest. The 11 Alive report said:
In 2016, the Portland public school board adopted a new dress code policy requiring minimum safe attire. The dress code includes both a top, a bottom, and shoes … nothing see-through on private areas and undergarments must be covered with the exclusion of waistbands and bra straps.
The teenager hopes to see similar rules in her own district.
Fox 5 reported the Cobb County School District issued a statement in response to the initial incident.
“The District’s dress code for students is Board policy JCDB-R which includes a minimum standard of dress and exists, per the policy, so students dress in a way which is ‘consistent with the formality of school,'” the statement read, adding that individual schools may establish additional requirements for their students.
Trevino told the outlet she plans to present her case to the Cobb County School Board at their meeting on September 16.
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