A Pennsylvania high school is under fire and might be sued after issuing a letter warning female students to avoid wearing tight clothing. Both parents and students felt that the message was a double standard and degrading.
The graduation ceremony is a combination of sitting and standing, which can last for hours depending on the number of students, so it is highly recommended that students wear something comfortable. But Biglerville High School in Adams County, Pa., doesn't want its students to dress too comfortably so it sent out letters to about 500 students.
"Please remember as you select an outfit for the awards assembly that we don't want to be looking at 'sausage rolls'.... As you get dressed, remember that you can't put 10 pounds of mud in a 5-pound sack," the letter stated.
The message seems to target female students by warning them not to wear tight clothing. Male students, on the other hand, received a gentle reminder that they should wear nice clothes and avoid low-hanging pants.
Bri Burtop, a senior at Biglerville High School, and her family are threatening to sue the school for sexual harassment for imposing the dress code. The student posted a letter on Facebook and said that the male students didn't receive such a degrading reminder.
"Just totally wrong. It's totally degrading," Jessica Burtop, Bri's mother, told ABC7 Chicago.
School officials said that they are now addressing the issue, according to Reuters, and released a statement that said: "While we regret that the document contained some unfortunate word choices, we do respect all students and hope this does not detract from the dignity of the graduation ceremony and the accomplishments of our graduating class."
Biglerville High School is not the first to impose a graduation dress code. A similar issue happened in Snellville, Ga., and, in Declo, Idaho, female students were told to wear white or pastel dresses or skirts to graduation.