A Christchurch school principal says female students got the wrong message after being told their skirt length was creeping up higher than allowed.
Hornby High School principal Robin Sutton says staff asked female students to take their skirt lengths down to where they should be -- at 10cm below the knee to simply comply with school uniform rules.
"In terms of the staff comment, it had no more or less prominence than concerns about [non-uniform] jackets or hoodies," he says.
However, it appears some students took the message the wrong way, he says, and thought their skirt lengths were offending male staff. Some students protested by not attending class or wearing trousers instead.
"I gather that the message was put to the girls in what might be expected of you if you were in the workplace," Mr Sutton says.
Students outside Hornby High School (Newshub.)
Three students had come to see him with their concerns, and Mr Sutton praised their "willingness" to discuss it with him. He is now setting out ensure all students are on the "same page".
"Teenagers are a wonderful source of pushback against organisational rules as they seek to find their own identity," he says.
However, Mr Sutton says he is encouraging his students to take up a more worthwhile cause.
"Don't mess around with uniform, they're material at the end of the day. We have rules -- just deal with those and get on with it and worry about the big things that matter in life."
Students outside Hornby High School (Newshub.)
Newshub.
