Mom Complains That Her Daughter Got Dress Coded At School For Showing '3 Centimeters' Of Skin
The lunch aid forced her to throw out her food and report to the principal.
@jessibangs / TikTok With everything going on in modern schools in the U.S., one would assume that a student’s clothing would be the least of educators’ worries.
Unfortunately, we may be mistaken and dress codes are still strictly enforced in schools across the country.
One mother proved this to be true after she received a call from her daughter’s school that she had been dress coded and needed a change of clothes.
When she arrived, she could not believe the outfit that had gotten the teenager sent down to the principal’s office.
The woman’s daughter was dress-coded for ‘3 centimeters’ of her skin being exposed.
In a TikTok video that has racked up over 5 million views, Jessi Vines gave viewers a glimpse of her daughter’s outfit that she wore to school.
Standing in the center of the principal’s office, the girl wears converse shoes, a pair of high-waisted jeans, and a T-shirt with a sweatshirt wrapped tightly around her waist.
In the video, the only portions of the skin that are visible are the small gap between her shoes and the cuffs of her jeans, and her arms.
In the comments section of her video, the mother clarified that only three centimeters of her daughter’s stomach were visible when she was not wearing the sweatshirt around her.
Vines was shocked and disgusted that her daughter had been dress-coded over her seemingly very appropriate outfit.
The mother called for dress codes to be abolished in schools.
“Dress codes are outdated, sexist, and send the wrong message to kids,” she wrote in the text overlay of her video. “Stop teaching children that covering up is more important than learning.”
Vines blamed the school districts for not adequately paying their staff and allowing minor issues like this to become such a big ordeal.
“If schools would pay their educators their worth, we wouldn’t have low lives crawling the schools looking for a reason to disrupt kids' days,” she captioned her video. “Focus on what matters and do better.”
In a follow-up video, Vines provided a more detailed account of why the teenager was dress-coded.
Speaking for herself, the girl explains that while she was in the cafeteria eating lunch when she was approached by a lunch aide who instructed her to throw her food away and report to the principal’s office due to her outfit.
Vines’ daughter says she was “confused” considering that her stomach was barely visible and that as a student she was seated at a desk most of the day and there was a minimal chance of her peers noticing it.
She added that she was wearing her sweatshirt over her T-shirt ever since she arrived at school.
“If you’re worried about 3 centimeters of skin- that’s a you problem and not a her problem,” the mother wrote in the video’s caption.
She noted that she had approved the girl’s outfit before she went to school and unfortunately they live in a conservative area of Texas where dress codes are enforced.
“My daughter is happy, healthy, smart, beautiful, and THRIVING,” she proudly proclaimed.
“I applaud her and encourage her to embrace her individual style, wear what she feels good in, and stand up for what she believes in.”
TikTok users praised the mother and daughter and slammed dress codes in the comments section.
“You look beautiful. Absolutely nothing wrong with your outfit!” one user commented.
“This outfit is perfectly fine! I see kids wearing less nowadays!” another user pointed out.
“As a teacher… you look super cute! You are showing barely any skin… I am sorry you went through this,” another user wrote.
“She got dress coded because a middle age woman projected her insecurities on a lovely little girl,” another user suggested.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.