Mom angry school forced daughter to cover legs with duct tape for violating dress code

A teacher gave a seventh grade duct tape to cover the holes in her jeans, which violated the school's dress code. (FOX5)

A seventh grader in Maryland had to use duct tape to cover her legs after wearing ripped jeans to school – and her mother is not happy about it.

Nicole Williams said she received a text message from her daughter, a student at Benjamin Stoddert Middle School in Waldorf, complaining that the duct tape was itching and burning her skin. Williams alleges that she did not know of the dress code violation until her daughter sent her that text message.

“The idea that they came up with and believe it was a good idea to put duct tape on a child when they can clearly see bare skin – I believe they should have called me first and gave her a chance to change her clothes,” said Williams to FOX5.

STUDENT TOLD SWEATSHIRT AND JEANS VIOLATED SCHOOL'S DRESS CODE

Williams’ daughter said she was instructed by a teacher to use the duct tape after she went to class with the ripped jeans.

“They told me that my jeans were inappropriate for school and then one of the teachers told me that I had to go get tape,” the student said. “So I went to go get the tape and the teacher tried to put it on, and then she said make it tighter because she didn’t want it falling off or anything.”

The middle school’s dress code bans shorts that are above the knee or jeans with holes that are above the knee.

In a statement to FOX5, Marvin Jones, the interim principal at Benjamin Stoddert Middle School said the school’s policy is to first call the parent before having the student apply duct tape over any holes – Jones admits the school did not follow protocol.

"Our practice is to communicate with the parent before a student covers the holes with tape; however, that protocol was not followed today, and I apologize for that. The amount of tape applied by the student was excessive and unfortunately, she had a reaction to it. The parent met face-to-face with an administrator at the school, as well as a director at the system's administrative offices today. I have attempted to contact the parent as well but without success. My first concern is for the child and I want to make sure that she is okay. I will review with staff proper procedures for handling dress code violations moving forward.”

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Jones’ statement continued:

“The expectation at Benjamin Stoddert Middle School is that students do not come to school in pants with holes above the knee. If a student does not meet that expectation, we first ask students if they have a way to cover the holes, and if they do, they go back to class. If they do not, we call the parent and provide the student duct tape to self-apply to the holes above the knee.

"If a parent indicates someone will bring a change of clothes, the student is allowed to go to the in-school retention room to wait without having to apply the tape. In this case, the mother asked if the student could take the tape off and wait in the in-school retention room until she could bring a change of clothing, and that was allowed.”