An article was printed this for Politicade, labled as a "left leaning media alternative", this week that called out a rural Indiana high school for supposed "discriminatory" disciplinary actions regarding school dress code violations. The article, titled "Teacher Sent Home After Conducting Social Experiment On The Last Day Of School", accuses educators and administrators of singling out female dress code violations more seriously than their male counterparts. The article states,
"The goal of the social experiment was to prove the dress code is sexist and disproportionately exercised against girls."
Hoosier Voices conducted a brief investigation into the accusations made by the article's author and students who were quoted within. It appears there are a few pieces of information that were left out of the article, either intentionally or without thorough investigation into the events leading up to the "experiment" and the supposed "violations" of the day. The Indian Creek High School dress code can be found through the schools website under the "Resources" tab.
Hoosier Voices decided to research this situation after contact from teachers, concerned parents, and alumni from the school. Our Hoosier Voices founder is a graduate of Indian Creek and currently teaches in the corporation. It became obvious, during the course of investigating the situation, that some misrepresentation may have gone into the writing of the original article and that there may have been ulterior motives for the basis of the "experiment"
Throughout our investigation it became obvious that the teacher "conducting the experiment" may have tendered a resignation prior to the final day to take a position in a new charter school in Monroe County. It appears, though many felt he had grand teaching ideas and lessons and was well liked by students, he had a propensity for "bashing" Public schools and consistently took on a role of "rebel". The "experiment" on the final day appears to have been "conducted" more as a swipe at administrators and less about the social injustices reported.
The article states,
"On a typical school day at Indian Creek High School, administrative staff and teachers monitor the halls between classes to flag girls who show too much skin. The Principal and Assistant Principal sit in the hallways between classes to enforce strict adherence to the dress code.
This is not true according to teachers interviewed for this article. One teacher stated that,
"Teachers are in the hall before school, during passing periods, and after school as a safety measure."
Others indicate that Administrators patrol the hallways for the same safety measures. One point the author tried to hammer is that this has been an "on going issue" at the school because girls are disciplined more than boys for dress code violations. No one interviewed by Hoosier Voices indicated an intentional "plot" by administrators or teachers to single out girls over boys for their attire. They have stated that dress code violations were handled by simple mention to violators, male and female, to take care of the violation so no "punishment" would be handed out. Some teachers may have gone an extra step to email other teachers of an apparent violation in case the student didn't take care of it after being asked. It appears that, in extreme cases, students have in the past been asked to "cover up", seek a "change of apparel", or "remove a hat" to comply with the schools school board approved and published dress code.
After initiating this investigation of the supposed "discrimination" of teachers and administrators handling female violations differently than male violations it was noted that female violations tend to be more "severe" because they involve the wearing of more revealing clothing as opposed to simply being able to remove a hat. It also came to light that the teacher conducting the "experiment" was also in violation of the dress code on the final day wearing a tank top to school.
Hoosier Voices learned from another teacher source that the reason
the teacher was asked to leave was two-fold.
1. Apparently after putting on a shirt to cover the tank top, he went on to remove the cover-up and proceeded to wear his tank.
2. There was also a question of his actions, telling students to break dress code, might have lead to a bullying situation. Apparently there was a picture taken and posted on social media of a girl's bare midriff (a blatant dress code violation) making fun of her for not wearing all of her clothes. The girl from the picture told people she wore the "revealing shirt" because she was told (by the teacher) to "break dress code".
Indian Creek administrators have not been immediately available for comment or verification, but it appears the teacher may have been sent home for "insubordination and creating a bullying situation".
This "experiment" was supposedly conducted to prove a blatant attempt by school administrators to discipline female students more often for violations than males. However, to our investigators, it appears to have fallen short pf proving anything other than being an attempt to rattle parents and community members to express concern over discrimination that does not exist. It also appears that the teacher involved wanted to make a statement as a departing employee of Public education as he moves to a charter school. His last "hurrah" may have been a parting shot at the rural school south of Indianapolis, its administrators, his colleagues, and even the students he leaves behind. While he will not have to deal with any effects from his last lesson at Indian Creek, students will have to decide if the experiment really proved anything or if it was just a frustrated adult setting out to call attention to his soon to be "former employer".
*NOTE - Names were not mentioned in this article out of respect for those teachers and students who chose to participate in the rebuttal of an article that tried to shed a negative light on their school.
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