At the end of last month, public schools in Pinellas County, Florida banned their own cheerleader uniforms in classrooms because the uniforms violate the schools’ new dress codes.
As reported, the ban is part of a “broader crackdown” to enforce the dress code and administrators will no longer turn a “blind eye” towards the fact that the cheerleaders’ uniform, typically worn to class on game days, violates the dress code.
Questioning why the uniforms are “suddenly too vulgar,” many cheerleaders and their supporters have reacted strongly to the switch from short skirts to track pants. They question why too much teenage thigh and academics don’t mix for the school year of 2013, despite the uniform being classroom appropriate for years.
But the administration has been staunch in their position, with one principal telling reporters that, though the skirts may be appropriate during the game, “a school has another purpose, and that’s academics.” The pushers of the policy also say the ban promotes egalitarian skirt length among cheerleaders and non-cheerleaders.
For now, one school in the district found an obvious compromise: longer cheerleader skirts.
[image via]