Deja Tunstill, eleven year old, was sent home by a teacher assistant at Mount Gleason Middle School because the color of her brown stretch pants was too close to her skin color and made her look nude. This student, who has exceptional decorum and excellent grades felt humiliated by the incident. Her mother, Yolanda Tunstill, is furious because she believes this was an act of injustice. The Los Angeles Unified School District argues that Deja Tunstill was not sent home.
The school dress code prohibits students from wearing tights, lounge-wear or sleepwear alone. Yet, the mother claims leggings compromise most of her daughter’s daily wardrobe. She said, “She wears them all the time, all the time…there has never been a problem before, not at all…until she wears the brown ones, and then it became a problem.”
The school district released a statement in a letter apologizing and explaining that the student teacher’s has been disciplined. Her mother plans to take legal action against the Los Angeles school system.