A Spanish Fork high school homecoming dress code causes tension between students and faculty

SPANISH FORK, Utah — Upset students are speaking out tonight after being turned away from their homecoming dance.

“They originally let me in, but then chaperones, I guess, had a problem with the length of my dress and kicked me out later,” explained Irvine, a senior at American Leadership Academy.

The Midnight in Paris dance would be Irvine’s last.

“We were mad for her because this is their senior year, and the dance should be fun and special for them,” said Serena Irvine, mother of Irvine.

Irvine and about 60-90 girls say they were turned away at the gym doors for being out of the dress code for their homecoming dance. They held a protest before school on Monday, asking for an apology.

But, Rich Morley, Director of American Leadership Academy, believes the number is closer to 12 students being denied entry.

“From what we were able to see, there were 12 students who were turned away, four of them, left got in dress code and came back, we may have missed some students,” he said.

Morley said the majority of infractions had to do with cleavage showing and too short dresses.

“They needed to have no undergarments showing, so no underwear showing, the dress had to be at least finger length and no plunging necklines, no cleavage is to be seen,” he explains.

Students at American Leadership Academy in Spanish Fork say they were wrongly dress coded at their Homecoming dance. They said around 60-90 girls were turned away, but school leadership says that’s not accurate.

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Meanwhile, the teenage girls say they made sure their dresses met the guidelines, some had theirs pre-approved but were still asked to leave the venue.

“We looked at the dress code and made sure it’d be perfect, and we had it perfectly tailored to me,” said Liliana Bradford, another senior at American Leadership Academy.

Some students said some girls were body shamed for what they wore.

“There’s a girl who was told that she wasn’t allowed to wear the dress because it didn’t look the same on her as it did on the model,” Bradford continued.

Morley responded to those claims.

“Just because another student has worn that dress doesn’t mean it’s going to fit you the same way it’s going to fit them,” he said.

Irvine and her mother said they didn’t like how the school handled the situation.

“I hope that the school changes their policy a little bit. I don’t like that it kind of discriminates against girls that are curvy or have different sizes,” Serena said.

Morley said the school board recently changed the dress code policy to be more lenient.

“As an administrator, we don’t make policies. We just enforce policies that are established by boards,” Morley explains.