Hampton Elementary 10-year-old's shirt called 'inappropriate'

Natasha Barton is upset that her 10 year-old daughter was told by a teacher that her loose-fitting shirt was inappropriate, after it lifted while she was skipping rope. 

Her daughter Khenady, who is in Grade 5, says she was embarrassed after her teacher pulled her aside after gym class.

"I was embarrassed a little and scared for when I got home that my mom would be mad at me," she said.

"God forbid that they got a little glimpse of her belly," said Natasha Barton. 

Barton feels the shirt is appropriate and that there was nothing wrong with her daughter's stomach being exposed while she skipped. 

School district satisfied

"It's making my daughter think she's got a fat belly or she's got an ugly belly and that's why she can't wear it," she said. 

"She's ten years old, she doesn't have a sexual or a sensual mind. So that is what my problem is. The teacher is telling her that you can't wear this, you can't show your belly. But they're not explaining why. Nor can you explain to a ten year old, or a nine year old, or an eight year old, at the elementary level, why it's inappropriate to dress sensual because they don't understand that. Nor should they need to be explained that at that age," she said. 

Zoë Watson, superintendent of the Anglophone South School District, spoke with CBC News about the Hampton Elementary response to Khenady's shirt and she's satisfied with how the school handled the situation.

This isn't the first time clothing has been at the center of controversy in New Brunswick.

Dress code controversies

High school student Lauren Wiggins recently challenged her school on its dress code enforcement and was sent home. 

Protests at Fredericton High School in 2014 resulted in suspensions, then efforts by administration and students to review the school's policies. 

Jula Hughes, a UNB law professor who specializes in constitutional law and judicial ethics, is disturbed only girls seem to be called out.

"It sends the message that women and girls have a special responsibility to avoid sexualization in an environment where the same [dress] codes say we'll look at you as a sexual being all the time, as a sexual object all the time," said Hughes. 

"I think the other message that it sends to boys, that is really problematic, is that it is somehow the role of girls to avoid being seen in a sexualized manner, and that boys are not at all responsible or called upon to act responsibly vis-a-vis their own sexuality," she said.