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Clay County parent says school dress code enforcement "arbitrary and unfair"

More Clay County news: Clay County residents upset after rise in break-ins

When Hailly-Jean Escamilla goes to Wilkinson Junior High School, she’s not sure which outfit school administrators will accept.

Escamilla has been up for dress code violations seven times since October, missing school time on five of those days.

She claims this also happens to her friends.

“It’s mainly with female students, mainly my friends,” she said. “We’ll get dress coded every week.”

Her father, Roel, says school administrators are enforcing what female students should wear arbitrarily.

“The problem is when the dress code is being ignored for an individual’s personal moral scruples,” he said.

The district determines dress length using post-it notes. According to the district’s Student Code of Conduct rules, dresses shouldn’t be shorter than three inches above the kneecap.

Escamilla is wearing one of the dresses that recently got her in trouble, and it appears to be longer than where the post-it note begins.

However, Wilkinson’s principal told her, it had “too much movement.”

“She’s been dress coded for various things like too much movement, the skirt being too high on the hip,” Escamilla said.

None of this is explicitly prohibited in the district’s dress code.

“We should be utilizing the student code of conduct as it is written,” he said.

In another case, Escamilla was written up for a dress code violation because of a sleeveless dress.

Her father tells Action News Jax the district prohibits tank tops and spaghetti straps, but doesn’t explicitly prohibit sleeveless dresses.

He pointed to a photo of school board member Janice Kerekes, who appears to be wearing a sleeveless dress.

“If it’s good enough for the chairperson of the Clay County, it should certainly be good enough for a student in Clay County schools,” he said.

In an email, the school’s principal told Escamilla’s father, “I have taken to heart what you are saying concerning being consistent with the dress code and will do my best to do that. Interpretation of the dress code does fall to me."

The District Code of Conduct does in fact say that non-permitted clothing includes “any apparel or accessory determined by administration to present a safety hazard for the student or the school.”

On Thursday afternoon, we reached out to Clay County Schools for comment.

As of 10:30 p.m. Thursday, we had not received a response.

“If the dress code is designed to ensure student success academically, then it doesn’t make sense that you’re pulling students out for capricious reasons,” said Escamilla.