School says Marilyn Monroe’s shoulders depicted on teen’s sweatshirt violated dress code, mom claims

A Utah teen is claiming her junior high school forced her to change her sweatshirt because an image of Marilyn Monroe violated the dress code.

Katie Fabert, the unidentified teen’s mother, said her daughter loves the late American icon and has a couple of sweatshirts that she wears with pictures of Marilyn Monroe printed on them.

However, when the 13-year-old wore one featuring Marilyn Monroe in an off-the-shoulder dress sitting next to rapper Tupac Shakur to South Ogden Junior High School on Wednesday, she was allegedly told by a school employee to change her shirt.






"She basically just said, 'I got dress coded for this shirt,'" Fabert said to Fox 13, meaning her daughter was cited for a dress code violation.

According to Fabert, her daughter said she was not given an explanation how her shirt broke the dress code rules. So Fabert went to the school with her daughter on Thursday to ask the vice principal.

"I said, 'Is this not in dress code?' And he said, 'No, it's not,'" Fabert recounted to Fox 13, of her conversation with the vice principal. "And I said, 'Well why isn't it?'"

Fabert told Fox 13 the principal explained that Marilyn Monroe was not dressed in compliance with the “South [Ogden Junior High’s] dress code” because she had exposed shoulders. Students are not allowed to have exposed shoulders at school. Since the dress Monroe was wearing was not within the school’s dress code, the sweatshirt was deemed inappropriate.

Fabert claims the encounter with the vice principal became confrontational and she and her daughter left.

Later in the day Fabert said she was contacted by the school’s principal, who informed her that the sweatshirt did not violate school dress code policy. Fabert told Fox 13 the principal assured her he was going to go over dress code policy with the school staff.


"Instead of enforcing what is actually dress code... these teachers are coming in and bringing their own opinion," she said to Fox 13.

In a statement to Fox 13, the Weber School District said the school is investigating the matter.

"We did have an issue [Wednesday] with a student wearing a shirt that an employee thought was in a violation of the dress code. The student was asked to wear something different. The principal is in the process of reviewing that decision. We will work closely with the student and their family to appropriately resolve the matter."

Grandma Vexed at school For calling 11-year-old's dress 'distracting'

A school in Montana is catching heat from a grandmother over their dress code.

Vegas, an 11-year-old middle schooler, showed up for picture day in a new gray dress with large pink flowers, paired with opaque black leggings.

The adolescent was excited to show off her ensemble for pictures, but was met with a dress code citation instead – for “showing her shoulders.”

“My beautiful granddaughter Vegas got dress coded today, her sister bought her this dress and they told her to change it because it was distracting,” her grandmother, Sandra Lynn Beeler Darling wrote in a Facebook post. “It was picture day and she wanted to look cute; she is 11.”

TRENDING CONTENTS

Vegas, who Darling describes as “quiet and reserved” Yahoo Lifestyle reported, was devastated by the citation.

“Vegas was so hurt by this,” Darling said.

“In my opinion, that is shaming her for showing her shoulders,” she told Yahoo. “She was right when she said they are just shoulders.”

Other people feel the same way as Darling, responding to her Facebook post about the incident – which has gone viral with nearly 2,000 shares and 1,300 reactions.

“She looks adorable but so sad. School has gotten to be more like prison than a place to get an education,” one user said.

“The board put in some ridiculous policy that their shoulders cannot show. It is stupid; if they are sexualizing a[n] 11 year old’s shoulders they should not be allowed around children!” another said.

One commented that a cardigan may help avoid situations like this, to which Darling responded, saying she was going to send Vegas to school with some.

But, Darling thinks “If you or your kids think it is distracting, don’t look at her.”

The school did relent and allow Vegas to take her pictures in the gray frock, but her sister had to bring her a change of clothes to wear the rest of the school day.

Vegas has never received a dress-code violation before, and neither have her siblings at the same school, though they have bared their shoulders before.

“She has three other sisters and a brother,” Darling says. “The older kids wore things like tank tops — never dress-coded.”

The school has refused to discuss the incident further since “the case is closed, she changed her clothes,” Darling said.

But Vegas is still bothered by the write-up, telling her grandmother that “it still upsets her.”