A Florida high school student claims he was denied entry to prom on Saturday after he showed up to the annual event in a suit and unknowingly violated his school’s dress code.
Sophie Savidge, 16, a junior at Mason Classical Academy in Naples, wore a black suit, olive vest and tie to the luxurious Vanderbilt Country Club for a night she’ll never forget. I wanted to fill it with memories.
However, Ms. Savidge learned from school administrators that she had violated the academy’s dress code in a formal setting and would need to be expelled. According to NBC News.
Ms Savidge’s mother Holly, who dropped the students off at the venue, claimed that deputy principal Nyssa Mitchell told her that Sophie could attend the dance if she went home and changed into a dress.
Sophie Savidge said she doesn’t feel “comfortable wearing a dress” and doesn’t “own” the dress she would wear if she wanted to attend prom.
“I was very upset,” Holly Savidge told the magazine. She said, “I said, ‘Sophie doesn’t wear dresses.’ She doesn’t like wearing dresses. It’s not like her.” And [the vice principal] I said, “Unfortunately, those are the rules.”
Mitchell told her mother that when she “paid $85 for a ticket to the prom,” she agreed that she “understood the dress code.”
Sophie Savidge described herself as “shocked” by the incident with the school administrator. Because, she said, she “didn’t think it would be a problem” to dress in what she felt most comfortable in.
Mother and daughter also claimed they wore suits to other school events, including the Valentine’s Day dance in February.
Mason Classical Academy, one of Florida’s top charter schools, writes that it has “clear dress code guidelines for all dances.”
“Students who show up to an MCA dance but do not abide by the dress code will be given the opportunity to return to the dance in appropriate attire. At MCA, all students are treated equally and these voluntary events You are welcome and encouraged to participate.”
Also on the school website:clothing guide‘, women are required to wear only dresses or one-piece clothing to formal occasions.
These guidelines were also distributed to parents before the prom, the newspaper reported.
Holly Savidge said they knew the rules but had “never denied Sophie before” and were “willing to take that risk because that’s who Sophie is”. .
“I’m so proud of her for taking that risk,” her mother said.
Although Junior was adamant that the school would allow him to attend the prom by filing a lawsuit, he looked into cases of a similar nature where students were rejected by the school because of their attire.
She filed a lawsuit in North Carolina in 2022. Peltier v. Charter Day Schoolruling that dress code requiring girls to wear skirts is illegal Title IX of the Education Reforms of 1972prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded schools.
“I thought if they said I couldn’t attend, I might be able to argue with them, but in the end I was too shocked and nervous to say anything to them,” Sophie said. Savidge explained.
Holly Savage explained that she does not plan to take legal action against the school, but hopes her daughter’s story can be used to send a message to change policy.
