U.S. Supreme Court rejects NC charter school’s effort to enforce skirt requirement for girls

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a North Carolina public charter school’s appeal of a lower court ruling that found the school’s uniform policy to be in violation of the Constitution. 

The high court’s action in the case of Peltier v. Charter Day School served to uphold a ruling issued last June by the full Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals which held that the Leland-based K-8 school violated the Constitution’s Equal Protection clause by requiring the girls to wear skirts to school and banning them from wearing pants or shorts.

The Fourth Circuit ruling determined that: a) Title IX — which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education activities — applies to school dress codes, and b) the school, which is chartered and funded by the state of North Carolina, is a state actor in relation to its student code of conduct. 

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the families challenging the policy, the skirt requirement prevented girls from being active during recess. It also posed a problem during emergency tornado and fire drills where they would crouch down in tight spaces. 

The school attempted to defend the policy by arguing that the dress code policy reflected what parents who sent their children to the school wanted. “The Uniform Policy was designed to foster classroom discipline and mutual respect between boys and girls,” the school argued in court documents. 

According to a recent report from the Network for Public Education, the school’s policy is part of a trend of charter schools attempting to follow a “classical” or “traditional” curriculum.