PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — On Monday, Pasco County school board members voted 3-2 to take a second look at a portion of the district’s dress code regarding the length of shirts.

The current dress code states students’ shirts must “extend to the waist,” and the way some schools enforced that rule had a lot of parents, and students, really upset, saying it unfairly targeted female students. 

Now, they say it’s a huge relief that the school board is considering changing it.

Spectrum News spoke with Tiffany Thuman, a mother of two teenage girls, about Pasco County Schools’ dress code.

“Somebody came into the class, had everybody stand up, and they had to lift their arms and check — first of all, who’s going to walk around school with their arms up in the air? It’s humiliating,” she said.

Thuman says it’s not just the way it was enforced — she and her daughter, Raelynn, say the dress code unfairly targets female students, and sends the wrong message.

“I feel like even though boys aren’t getting dress coded, obviously, because it’s not what the dress code is pandering to, it’s teaching guys a message that women get to be objectified,” Raelynn said.

Students in Pasco County started an online petition, and with nearly 1,000 signatures this week, the school board took notice, which Thuman says sends a whole new message — that students’ education is what matters the most.

“This is saying, you know what, we messed up. It’s a new day, a new age, and we’re going to focus more on your education than the way you look,” she said.

Spectrum News reached out to all the Pasco County School Board members for comment on the dress code issue. One responded. Colleen Beaudoin, who represents District 2 said she would like to “see students in class and engaged in learning and administrators and teachers focused on making the best use of instructional time.”

The school board is taking public comment on Oct. 3 regarding the changes to the dress code, and the official vote will be on Oct. 17.