A senior at Hickory Ridge High School in Harrisburg, North Carolina was recently suspended for wearing a shirt that showed her collarbones.
Summer, an honor roll student with a 4.4 GPA, told NBC Charlotte that she was sitting in the cafeteria last week when the school’s principal asked her to put on a jacket because her shirt went against the school’s dress code. According to NBC Charlotte, Summer’s shirt partially showed her shoulders and exposed her back.
Although Summer reportedly told her principal she thought her shirt was “fine” to wear at school, she complied with the principal’s request and put on a jacket. Unfortunately, the principal was still not satisfied and asked Summer to change her outfit all together.
“I completely understand why a dress code is put into place but I feel like after I put on that jacket it should have been subdued,” Summer told NBC Charlotte.
Watch the full news clip of Summer’s story below.
Instead of accompanying the principal to change her clothes, Summer asked the principal to call her mother. According to NBC Charlotte, Summer has had “a number of issues” with her principal over the past four years, and because of this, Summer’s mother has asked the school to call her before taking any disciplinary action against her daughter. The principal was unable to reach Summer’s mother, so Summer went about her day.
Later, during a school assembly, the principal came in with a school security guard and asked everyone to leave except Summer.
“[The security guard] was within five feet of me, he had his hand on his gun,” Summer said. “[The principal] said ‘I’m gonna give you an ultimatum. We have tried to call your mother. You either come with me to the control room to change your shirt or we will arrest you.”
Right before the security guard could handcuff the high school senior, Summer’s mother called.
Thankfully, Summer was not arrested but Yahoo reported she was given a 10-day suspension from school and was banned from all senior activities including high school graduation. According to the letter sent home to Summer’s mom, the high school senior was suspended for “insubordination.”
Summer told NBC Charlotte that she thinks the principal is still considering expelling her.
“It’s just sad because I worked so hard for four years to walk across that stage,” she said. “We have drug dealers walking across that stage, we have sex offenders walking across that stage and then the 4.4 student who showed her shoulders can’t.”