A father wants an Illinois school district to rethink its dress code after his 14-year-old son was threatened with suspension if he did not remove his U.S. Marines T-shirt.
According to FoxNews.com, Daniel McIntyre, 44, said his son was told by teacher Karen Deverell during reading class at Genoa-Kingston Middle School on Monday that his shirt violated the dress code because it shows two interlocking guns. He was then asked to wear the shirt inside out or face possible suspension.
Deverell did not inform school officials of the incident, but when asked about the school dress policy, Genoa-Kingston Superintendent Joe Burgess told FoxNews that the T-shirt was not a violation. He added that the policy simply requires kids to dress in a “neat, clean and well-fitting manner,” and avoid wearing gang symbols or clothing that promotes “violent behavior.” The code does not specifically ban images of guns.
“My son is very proud of the Marines and, in fact, of all the services,” McIntyre said. “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.”
A school statement obtained by FoxNews.com reads in part, “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.”
“This is not right," said McIntyre. "This policy that they have in place can obviously be loosely interpreted, so they need to change it.”