Last year, a US federal judge determined that the school’s uniform policies had infringed the constitutional rights of its female students.
Leland’s Charter Day School appealed the decision to the highest court in the land. Without making a statement, the justices rejected hearing the appeal. Girls can now wear trousers at school thanks to a revision in the dress code.
Dress Code in North Carolina Schools
It was Baker Mitchell, the school’s founder, who reportedly said the skirts were worn to maintain “chivalry,” according to court records. Chivalry describes women as fragile vessels that men should care for and honor.
Assuring that female students are treated “courteously and more gently than boys,” he continued, was the goal of the policy.
- Leland Charter Day School appeals to the court, girls are allowed trousers.
- Baker Mitchell claims skirts symbolized chivalry, honoring women as fragile vessels.
- Judge warns Charter Day dress requirement may promote stereotypes.
However, a handful of parents contested the rule, arguing that it unfairly disadvantages their daughters in comparison to men.
The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which forbids the enactment of laws that are arbitrarily discriminatory, was violated by the clothing code, according to the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which reached the same conclusion in June 2022.
Senior Circuit Judge Barbara Milano Keenan, who wrote the majority ruling, claimed that the Charter Day dress requirement could promote “stereotypes with potentially disastrous consequences for young girls.”
Charter schools, which are funded by taxpayers but are independently administered, make up a very minor portion of the US educational system.
