A petition was delivered to the Vista Middle School office after being signed by several students who felt the school’s dress code unfairly discriminates against female students.
Some of the students had invited a Bellingham Herald reporter and photographer to meet with them today, September 10th, at Vista Middle School prior to classes but since the reporter and photographer had not obtained permission from the school or district a head of time to speak with the students on campus they were asked by school officials to leave and did.
The parts of the dress code at Vista Middle School which the students are in disagreement over include:
- Dresses, skirts and shorts must be the length of fingertips with arms fully extended at the sides
- Leggings, jeggings, yoga pants and tights must be covered by an over-layer; not limited to long sweaters, shirts or sweatshirts
- Bare midriffs, bare backs, bare shoulders, strapless tops, visible bra straps or cleavage are not permitted
- Spandex pants/shorts, except when worn under acceptable shorts, are not permitted
- Silk shorts, running shorts, biking shorts, long strings and/or holes in cut-off jeans are not permitted
Click for more information
Click for more informationDiscover Ferndale received a redacted copy of the petition after requesting it from the School District. According to the petition delivered by the students to the school office staff, the students are asking that the female students to be allowed to wear
- yoga pants
- leggings
- shorts
- dresses
- running shorts
- short skirts
- ripped jeans
- tops that don’t cover the shoulder
The petition goes on to say,
It is our collective goal to work with you to make a change and come up with a win-win solution. We will not just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles.
According to Ferndale School District Director of Communications Tammy Bengen,
The principal is working with them on their concern. To our knowledge, students have not violated any policies and no disciplinary action has been taken.