NOBLE, Okla. – A group of Noble High School girls were left crying and humiliated after they claim they were called out in front of the entire school for what they were wearing.
Parents and students are both furious at the way inappropriate outfits were addressed on the first day of school.
Superintendent Ronda Bass says, “As I was greeting the children coming in I knew we had a major, major problem on our hands.”
On the first day of school, Bass was one the first to welcome students back.
Bass says, “I am very proud to be known as ‘Mama Bear Bass’.
Bass says she’s very protective of her students and after she saw what some of the girls were wearing she decided to sit them down at the end of the day.
“The first question I asked was how many of you in here believe that there are female students on the campus today that are dressed completely inappropriate,” says Bass. “Most of their hands went up.”
But that’s not what senior Stephanie Stewart remembers.
Stewart says, “The first sentence was, ‘Have y’all ever seen any ‘skanks’ around this school’. Around the end she said, ‘I don’t want to see anyone’s ass hanging out of their shorts.”
We asked Bass if those words were ever used.
“I knew that students from other towns were calling our girls really negative names. The message I wanted to send to them was I don’t want them to be called those names,” says Bass. “I want us to be known as the classy lady Bears.”
So this morning Bass followed up, unannounced.
According to Stephanie she asked just the girls to stand up while she did a dress code check, even asking some of the girls to bend over.
Stephanie was singled out because in Bass’ opinion her dress was too short.
Bass says, “If you’re not comfortable with bending over, we might have a problem.”
Stephanie says her superintendent handled the situation inappropriately, sending some of her friends home crying on the first week of school.
“A lot of girls actually felt humiliated,” says Stewart. “You could see it in their faces that they were.”
Bass said she thought the problem was so widespread, she sent an email to teachers saying, “Our female students are pushing the limits. We all know this to be true… please help us stay on top of this until a new norm of modesty is established.”
Bass says she stands by the way she addressed the students and believes she did the right thing.
