17-year-old sent home for wearing an ‘inappropriate’ outfit in school

Karis Wilson, a high school student in Grade 12, was wearing a knee-length black dress with lace trim over a white turtleneck with long sleeves when she was sent home in violation of the school’s dress code.

If this was not shocking enough, Karis’s teacher said, her clothing reminded her of a “lingerie outfit” and it could make a male teacher feel awkward.

The furious father, Christopher Wilson took to social media to express his anger. He wrote on a now-viral social media post: “Today, my daughter was sent home for wearing clothing that made her female teacher and her male student teacher “feel uncomfortable”.

“Centered out in front of her class and told she needs to leave class and brought her to the VP’s before she went home in tears. 

“After asking her how she would like me to handle it she said she wanted to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen to the students that come after her.”

Mr Wilson said the incident was “absurd” and there was nothing wrong with the outfit – describing it as “very modest” – as he accused staff of overreacting.

He added: “There was a female who was singled out because what she’s wearing could make someone in a position of power over her feel uncomfortable. And the more you think of it, the more you say it, the more you understand that this is absurd.”

A day later, Karris Wilson’s classmates staged a walkout in support for her. “If there’s a silver lining to this, [after feeling] that centred out and awkward, [it’s to] have everyone stand up, stand beside you and say, no, this isn’t OK, we’re with you,” they said. Some of them held up signs and chanted “I stand with Karis” and “My body my choice.”