NoDak school district walks back ‘hooker’ comparison

School officials in Devils Lake, N.D., will hold a meeting with female students today and try — again — to convey a message about the problem with what they wear, this time without comparing them to hookers, apparently.

Fargo Forum reports the superintendent has acknowledged that showing the kids “Pretty Woman” at an assembly recently wasn’t such a good idea.

And yet, Superintendent Scott Privratsky says, there’s still a problem with yoga pants, leggings, and tights.

While some reports have said yoga pants, leggings and tights are banned in Devils Lake schools, they’re not prohibited outright. The policy in the Devils Lake student handbook says they “must be appropriately covered by other clothing,” Privratsky said. “So they aren’t so revealing.”

The intentions of the assistant principal and the female staff member who visited with the students “were good. It was to talk about appropriate school attire. It wasn’t the intention to draw any references to students acting like hookers or prostitutes or anything like that,” he said.

Privratsky added “there may have been a comment that was made that I believe will be retracted by that staff member and apologized for,” though he declined to be more specific about which staff member or the comment made.

Some reports claimed an administrator told the students tight uncovered pants or leggings can be distracting to teachers and other students.

The dust-up over school fashion allows the rest of us to take a trip down memory lane…

“When I was in school, the mini-skirts had to be the length of the fingertips if your arms were held to your body,” Braaten said.

In the 1980s, the “Madonna wannas” would wear crop tops and short skirts. The punk look offered ripped jeans that could give a view of the wearer’s underwear, Braaten said.

Camisoles used to be worn under a blouse to cover underwear. Now they’re used as a blouse, Braaten said.

In the late-1990s and 2000s, low-rise pants and crop tops revealing bare midriffs had elders fuming. And in the past few years, deeply cut blouses, “showing too much of a woman’s charms” set off alarms, Braaten said.

For guys, saggy pants belted below the buttocks with boxer shorts showing were banned in many schools, as well as anything showing signs of gang affiliation, she said.

The Devils Lake superintendent says it might not be a bad idea to talk to the boys about their dress, too.

Archive: The great yoga pants rebellion of 2014 (NewsCut)