Brighton Secondary College issues apology after backlash over uniform length check

Parents have blasted a bayside school after a teacher ordered girls to take part in a “demeaning and archaic act”.

Brighton Secondary College was blasted by parents over a check of girls’ uniforms. Picture: Chris Eastman

A bayside school has unreservedly apologised after Year 7 girls were ordered to kneel in a line so their hemlines could be checked to ensure they weren’t too short.

Angry parents took to a Brighton Secondary College Facebook forum to voice their disapproval, dubbing the exercise “patriarchal” and a throwback to the 1950s.

Year 7s were lined up by a female teacher to ensure their dresses touched the ground to comply with the code which says hemlines need to sit on the knee.

More than 150 parents vented before comments were closed.

Parents described the dress drama as unfortunate given the trying year experienced by many students and families mentally, socially and financially.

A parent who started the thread said she had emailed the school to voice her concern.

“I am so upset by this demeaning and archaic act of public shaming,” she wrote.

“I really don’t want this to happen again to the girls at BSC. It is just wrong.”

The parent told the Herald Sun the school needed to undergo professional development as the misstep wasn’t the latest in a number.

Another parent said that her son had told her that some of his female classmates with dresses “slightly shorter than requirements” were told to go and buy new dresses.

“Seriously, is this the 1950s?” she said.

“Teenagers grow and girls have different leg lengths, too. Do they really need this on top of the crap year hey have had?”

By Friday the school had posted an apology on its Compass platform, saying it “unreservedly apologised for the inappropriate way” in which the check was undertaken.

Brighton Secondary College acting principal Pat Gargano told the Herald Sun the isolated incident did not reflect the school’s values of respect, empathy, and integrity.

“It is not our practice to conduct uniform checks in this way and the staff member was immediately counselled as soon as we became aware,” Mr Gargano said.

Female students can wear pants and shorts. It is understood there were no boys present during the check and no one was disciplined.

A parent who observed, but did not contribute to the pile on, said some parents seemed to suggest any policing of dress length was oppressive.

“Teenage girls can be counted on to push the envelope and “sex up” their uniforms so they’re mini skirt length,” she told the Herald Sun.

“I don’t think school is the right place for revealing clothing.”

But the parent said they were not keen on the tactic of lining girls up and more discretion, especially at the end of the tough year, would be good.