Mum sues school after her ‘busty’ teenager was body-shamed by teacher
A mother is taking legal action against a high school after she claims a teacher gave her daughter a dress code and said her "boobs were bigger than most girls."
Melissa Barber claimed her 17-year-old daughter Kelsey was told by a Joplin High School teacher in the US she would "have to try harder" as she was "busty."
Ms Barber shared a photo of Kelsey's outfit to her Facebook page on Friday asking what was wrong with her jeans and long-sleeve blouse.
"This is the shirt that just got my 17 year old dress coded," Ms Barber, from Missouri, captioned the photo.
Kelsey said she was "mortified" after the teacher's comment was made in front of her entire class.
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"When I was pulled into a meeting with the principal, he told me that he had never heard of me being victimised before, and he didn’t really believe what I said," she said, Metro reported.
Ms Barber took a video of Kelsey saying she was also called "plus-sized" and said other students were not given a dress code for wearing offensive slogan t-shirts.
The mother also shared a photo of the student with a friend captioned: "Only one of these girls got dress code violated today."
She said she now plans to take legal action against the school and her lawyer said Kelsey has "nothing to be ashamed of."
"It is sad that in this day and age, when we teach children and young adults about the dangers of bullying and body shaming with laws to protect against bullying, that we have to worry about the adults in our children’s lives being the ones to hurt them," lawyer Elizabeth Turner said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Joplin High School said: "All dress code procedures will adhere to health and safety codes and comply with applicable law."
"Dress that materially disrupts the educational environment will be prohibited. No procedure will impose dress and grooming rules based on gender in violation of Title IX. District procedures will specifically define ambiguous terms, and examples will be provided when practicable," it read.
