When an eighth grader was asked to take off his U.S. Marines T-shirt at school or face suspension, his father was shocked and requested that the school re-consider its dress code.
David McIntyre, 44, of Genoa, Ill. told Fox News that his 14-year-old son Michael's teacher Karen Deverell asked the boy to remove his T-shirt during reading class at Genoa-Kingston Middle School on Monday. Deverell cited the school's dress code, noting that the interlocking rifles on the shirt violate the code.
"My son is very proud of the Marines, and, in fact, of all the services," McIntyre told Fox News. "So he wears it with pride. There are two rifles crossed underneath the word 'Marines' on the shirt, but to me that should be overlooked. It's more about the Marines instead of the rifles."
He said that before his son agreed to turn the shirt inside out, Deverell threatened him with suspension. The boy had worn the T-shirt to school before without an incident, McIntyre told Fox News.
"He was upset, he couldn't understand it," McIntyre told Fox News. "He couldn't understand why a teacher would make him do that."
The school's principal, Brett McPherson, referred Fox News' questions to Genoa-Kingston Superintendent Joe Burgess, who said Michael's Marines shirt does not violate the district's dress policy.
"We've been accused of a lot of things, but our middle school is well-known for its support of the armed forces," Burgess told Fox News. "That's why this is so disheartening to all of us."
If Deverell informed school officials about the incident, Burgess told Fox News, McPherson would have quickly determined that the shirt was not a problem.
"Nobody took the next step of asking the principal or making them aware of it," Burgess told Fox News. "The teacher is obviously allowed to question anything they feel might be a violation of dress code, but again, had an administrator been allowed to respond, this could have been taken care of yesterday."
The middle school's dress code policy, obtained by Fox News, requires that students wear "neat, clean and well-fitting" clothes. The policy doesn't explicitly ban images of guns and other weapons.
"Student dress (including accessories) may not advertise, promote, or picture alcoholic beverages, illegal drugs, drug paraphernalia, violent behavior, or other inappropriate images," the policy reads. "Student dress (including accessories) may not display lewd, vulgar or obscene or offensive language or symbols, including gang symbols."
The code also bans hats, bandannas and sunglasses -- and those who violate the dress code are asked to wear the gym uniform instead.
But district officials emphasize that students at the school are patriotic and support U.S. troops.
"The students and staff regularly write letters of support to the troops, and hold patriotic ceremonies for Veterans Day and Patriots' Day," the statement obtained by Fox News said. "We very much support the armed forces and were disheartened to learn of this matter through the media. The administration and school handbook agree that this shirt is not a violation of the dress code. We also take school safety very earnestly and it needs to be recognized that is a topic that we also take very seriously and support our students and staff in providing a safe environment to learn, teach and work in on a daily basis."
McIntyre told Fox News that he thinks the teacher overreacted to his son's shirt, as a result of recent mass shootings, namely the tragedy at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School in December.
"I backed him up and he knows that," McIntyre told Fox News, about his son. "This is not right. This policy that they have in place can obviously be loosely interpreted, so they need to change it."
Below is a video report about the incident.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
