B.C. student says black dress, white turtleneck deemed inappropriate at school

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the student was sent home because of her attire. It has since been updated to reflect the fact that while a teacher did tell her that her clothing was inappropriate, she was not ordered to leave.

VANCOUVER (CITYNEWS) – A Grade 12 student in Kamloops and her father are speaking out after they say she was pulled out of class on Tuesday and told her black dress and white turtleneck were making her teacher and a student teacher uncomfortable.

Chris Wilson posted a video on Facebook — which as of Wednesday morning had more than 22,000 views — where he questions why his daughter Karis was told to leave school for wearing a knee-length dress over a turtle-neck sweater.

“She was sent home for wearing this beautiful dress and a turtleneck because we know how inappropriate turtlenecks can be,” he says during the almost seven-minute rant.

He has since clarified that after a teacher commented that her clothing was considered inappropriate, Karis made the decision to go home.

Chris and Karis spoke with CityNews about how the move by NorKam Secondary School has left them hurt and confused.

“The fact that dad said he would take me to church in the outfit I was wearing was enough proof that I was not wearing anything that should’ve got me sent home,” Karis says.

On Tuesday morning, Karis put on the black, lace-trimmed dress over a long-sleeved, white turtleneck and went to school, where she says she spent 20 minutes working in class before she was pulled out into the hallway.

Karis says she was told that the dress she was wearing was inappropriate and that it made her teacher — a woman — and a male student uncomfortable because it reminded them of a slip.

Karis says she didn’t even know what a slip was and that she was simply trying to express herself. She felt confident wearing the outfit and it hit hard when she found herself pulled aside.

“I was shocked and I felt sad. I was holding back tears because I was embarrassed and I didn’t want to run back into my class crying.”

Chris Wilson tells CityNews he was very much surprised to hear his daughter was sent home for wearing the dress and turtleneck.

“Her mother shared the picture with me and once I saw it I said I’d like to go discuss this.”

He went to the school and feels he had a productive conversation with the principal but was left concerned when the school’s vice principal showed him the official dress code.

“I found some of it, like no swearing, no alcohol or tobacco, no nudity on the shirts, all reasonable,” he says. “The last one was not to be distracting to teachers or students’ learning. That one was a little ambiguous and I was kind of worried about what that actually meant.”

In a statement, the Kamloops-Thompson School District says it is aware of the incident.

“We understand the parent is concerned about what happened to his daughter at school yesterday. We are also concerned about these allegations and are treating them seriously. The incident is currently under review. We will not comment on the incident specifically. Whenever a parent is concerned about their child at school we want to work with them for the best outcome for the student.”

Wilson says the school has indicated to him that the dress code is something they may be planning to address.

For her part, Karis agrees there should be a dress code at schools but that students should also be allowed to express themselves within those guidelines.

“It’s better to teach boys to control themselves than to teach women to cover themselves.”

CityNews and NEWS 1130 have also reached out to the school principal and BCTF for comment.