Erica DeRamus ended up all dressed up with nowhere to go -- on her prom night.
The Oxford, Ala., high school student found her perfect prom dress online -- a seafoam green cocktail frock with a jeweled bodice and a tutu-style skirt. Unfortunately for DeRamus, the dress got her kicked out of her prom and suspended for three days for violating her school's dress code.
"I was so excited because it was my senior prom and I'd never been to a senior prom," DeRamus told Alabama's WBRC-TV.
But her excitement didn't last long.
Oxford High School officials said DeRamus's outfit was too low-cut and too short, breaking the rules of the school's dress code -- which stipulates that necklines must not plunge below students' breastbones and skirt hems must not be higher than six inches above the knee.
"It's there for the protection of kids... not for management of kids," Oxford High School Principal Trey Holloday told WBRC.
Even so, DeRamus argued her dress was not that revealing.
"'What cleavage?' That's exactly what I said," DeRamus said. " I wasn't trying to be rude or anything, but that's what I feel."
Of the 352 Oxford High students who attended the prom, officials said 18 violated the dress code. All but DeRamus chose paddling as punishment, with DeRamus opting for a three-day suspension.
"I'm a little too old to get paddled...This is high school, we're seniors," DeRamus told WBRC. "If we're going to act up, give us another option besides being paddled because this isn't the 1940s. We don't take corporal punishment now."
DeRamus's mother, Darrie DeRamus, supported her daughter's decision -- and her choice of dress.
"If I felt like there was too much cleavage on that dress, I wouldn't have purchased the dress," she said. "It would've stayed in the store and I wouldn't have gone on the Internet and paid for it."
VIA: AolNews
3 comments:
The dress was inappropriate and the school was right to punish students who violated the dress code.
And I agree! Maybe they should have had a copy of the dress code on hand, or referred to it, before selecting the dress. Rules are rules regardless of the situation, unless otherwise indicated.
I have no sympathy for this girl or for her mother, or for the girls who got paddled. The rules were crystal clear and they chose to defy them. The school is right to impose standards of decency and enforce them.
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