5th Grader Fights District on Dress Code Policy: 'It Shames Girls'
A Georgia fifth grader is standing up against her school's dress code policy, which she says punishes girls for wearing leggings.
Ten-year-old Falyn Handley from Springdale Park Elementary School, recently appeared before the Atlanta Board of Education asking them to please change the decade-old dress code.
The board currently prohibits students from wearing "skin-tight" clothing, which includes leggings and jeggings, and calls these clothes a "distraction.
Students who are caught wearing tight clothing are pulled out of class.
Besides making her case before the Atlanta Board of Education, Handley also collected more than 1,200 signatures in a petition against the dress code.
"Girls should not be pulled out of class or embarrassed for wearing leggings, which is happening now. Boys and girls should be able to manage their 'distractions' and reactions. I am not a distraction and me wearing leggings is not a distraction," she said in the petition.
"I don't like the policy because it shames girls," Handley told TODAY. "I like wearing leggings. They're affordable, comfortable and popular."
Girls in the school district also made a point to purposefully wear leggings to school and post it on social media
So far, the school board has been receptive to the complaints. Eshé Collins, head of the policy committee of the Atlanta Board of Education, told TODAY that Handley and the other students who joined her have been "highly influential."
"It's been 10 years and a lot has changed. ...We want to make our policy more inclusive of everyone," Collins said.
"I'm honored they feel empowered to speak to their elected officials. When I was their age, I didn't feel that way. It's a sign that our students are engaged and that's what we want."
Whether or not you believe leggings are modest, Christian blogger Jaime Jamgochian says it is important to remember that beauty comes from within, not clothing.
"It all has to do with beauty, but beauty should really come from the inside out," explained Jamgochian, a worship leader and the creator of Modest is Hottest.
"Unfortunately, the generation that we're living in says the less you wear, the more hot and beautiful you are. But there's something really beautiful to mystery," she said.
