Mom Says Son was "Sexually Harassed" at School

A Greenville County mom says she doesn't want her son to be a high school drop-out because of saggy pants.

Tammy's Earle's son Nick is suspended from Berea High School. He says it was for violating the school's dress code seven times. While both he and his mom don't believe his style constitutes sagging, Tammy Earle’s biggest beef is that a teacher asked her son to lift up his shirt. "To my knowledge, that's sexual harassment”, says Earle. “My son said no, and I have no problem refusing to lift his clothes up and expose himself to anyone."

We asked Berea High School principal William F. Roach if the policy goes too far. He did not want to speak to us on camera, but he did issue this statement:

“The policy at Berea High School is that pants, jeans, and shorts must be worn at the waist. The waist has been defined to our teachers and students as the area around their midsection at their hip bones. This policy and the definition of the waist have been announced repeatedly to our students, not only this school year but also at the end of last school year. When male student’s pants are not at the waist, or are “sagging”, they are asked to pull their pants up and then a male administrator takes a cable tie and zip ties their belt loops to help that student be in compliance. While the administrator is zip tying the student’s pants, the student may be asked to hold his shirt so the administrator can see to zip tie the student’s pants. The student is then given one day of In School Suspension (ISS) for violating dress code. Male administrators zip tie males and female administrators zip tie females. At that time the administrator explains to that student why he or she is in violation of dress code. No student is ever suspended out of school for simply violating dress code. Our goal with the dress code policy is to help our students get ready for when they join the work force. Our goal is to help students learn to follow the rules and remain in school, thus the reason for the In School Suspension. While in ISS a student is counted present at school and, therefore, hopefully will not get behind on his or her school work. Many of our students come to us daily to ask for a cable tie or zip tie so they can ensure they are in compliance with the dress code. Around 97% of our student body is in compliance with the dress code. We are dealing with about 3% that are out of compliance. The goal of Berea High School is to “make our students smart and to make them good!” “

Earle says she just wants her son to stay in school. She says, "If education is so important to this country, why aren't they giving my kid a chance to get his education instead of picking on the way he is dressed?