8th-Grader Told to Cover Abstinence-Promoting T-Shirt

Religion Today | Published: Feb 21, 2013

8th-Grader Told to Cover Abstinence-Promoting T-Shirt

A Florida eighth-grader says she was told by school staff to change her abstinence-promoting T-shirt because it was "inappropriate," Fox 35 Orlando reports. Summer Schreiner, 15, had gotten the T-shirt with the words "Don't drink and park... accidents cause kids" the night before from a Christian conference called The Silver Ring Thing, a gathering held in cities around the country during which teenagers pledge to remain abstinent until marriage. Summer said she was asked by the assistant principal during school to remove her shirt. "I was pretty upset," she said. "I thought it was silly. It's not like I was wearing a curse word or something that was promoting violence. IT's the shirt I got at a conference that is something that is very important to me." Summer's mother, Angela Hogan, said: "They actually had her take off the shirt and put on a T-shirt the school issues for inappropriate dress. And the shirt they had her put on says 'Tomorrow I will dress for success.' This is what upsets her more. It was really humiliating for her, because she came dressed for success." Hogan spoke with school administrators, but they are standing by their decision. "This is not a situation of whether or not the district agrees or disagrees with sexual abstinence among teenagers," said Michele Irwin, director of communications for the school district. "It's about the fact there is sexual innuendo on the shirt, and so we believe it violated our dress code policy."



8th-Grader Told to Cover Abstinence-Promoting T-Shirt