The Virginian-Pilot
©
CHESAPEAKE
When the Friday night lights brighten Grassfield High School's football stadium these days, the students underneath are going to be a little less colorful - and a little more clothed - than they used to be.
The ritual of smearing team colors across bare skin before games has been banned at Grassfield, after administrators said the display left students too skimpily dressed for a school event.
The new rule came after a Sept. 19 home game against Lakeland High School, during which several dozen students painted themselves up in Grassfield Grizzly red, white and blue. Students said boys had their shirts off, while girls were wearing sports bras or tank tops, and painted their stomachs.
Some students "took it to a different level," said Principal Carolyn Bernard, although she declined to elaborate. She said she'd received complaints about how students were dressed from parents and other students.
"The attire - or lack of attire - was inappropriate," Bernard said.
The following Thursday - the day of the junior varsity game - the message came over the intercom: no more body painting.
Now, some students say the rule is crushing school spirit at a new school that's made building Grizzly pride a priority.
"If you would have seen the game that day, there was so much Grizzly spirit," said senior Ashley Emeric, who painted an 'R' on her stomach to spell out "SENIORS" during the Lakeland game. "The next week, the bleachers were empty."
"I know what inappropriate looks like," she added. "My parents taught me to dress appropriately. And I didn't see anything inappropriate."
There is no citywide rule regarding body painting at sports events, said school spokesman Tom Cupitt. The decision is up to each principal.
Bernard said she's received no feedback on the new rule so far. And at Grassfield's most recent home game against Oscar Smith High School, students showed their school pride by wearing shirts in school colors and painting their faces, she said.
"There are so many ways to show school spirit," she said. "School spirit here is off the charts."
Some students said they'd been looking forward to painting themselves up for this Friday's homecoming game against Great Bridge High School.
Senior Justin Raney said he considered painting up anyway. Alyssa Contreras, another senior, said she wanted to start up a petition opposing the ban and get it signed by both students and parents.
Raney came to Grassfield from Great Bridge. There, he said, students routinely painted themselves green and yellow while wearing green spandex.
"It was like a tradition," he said. "And Grassfield is just trying to kill it."
Alicia Wittmeyer, (757) 222-5216, alicia.wittmeyer@pilotonline.com
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Not Fair
I'm a senior at Grassfield and i was one of the girls painted up with everyone. I find it crazy that people would say that we we're topless. No we had sports bras on and are stomachs we're covered in paint. I know for a fact that all of us that painted we're not trying come a cross in a bad way looking like that we we're having fun and showing are school spirit. I know that im trying to make memories my last year of high school and that night i did and it will be one that i won't forget so why take that away. This is 2008 not 1940s people get a grip you go to the beach or the pool dont you so what do people wear almost nothing so why freak out about a sports bra. We could be going out and doing other things that have nothing to do with the school so we chose to go to the game and support are team. The school that i came from everyone painted and the fans loved it and sometimes thats why people came to the games because they enjoyed seeing kids have fun and just enjoying life. Life is to short to be worrying about what we are wearing to a football game. We are not bad kids i think its wrong that you are judging us and how we show school spirit you dont even know us. We didn't mean
the perspn called these girls trash
You evidently don't know what trash is that is something you sit on the road. You don't even know them. Are you jealous you can't wear a sports bra in public. Maybe they made a mistake by going out and showing school spirit. Maybe I should have let my daughter go out drink and do drugs. These kids are very proud of there school and it showed until some parents had to ruin it for them. There seniors let them have fun. My daughter cheered for Great Bridge and the colon crazies were half naked and cheered right with them the girls were uniform of course the point is they were just having fun and meant no harm whatsoever. They are just kids and they learn from things like this "NO ONE SHOULD SAY THEY SHOULD BE banned from games or punished they were told they couldn't do anymore so leave it alone and STOP please talking bad about them. THEY HAVE LEARNED and they are good respectful kids. PLEASE STOP THIS NONSENSE.
My Father...
... now Papa, fast forward to the 21st century. When I got my ear pierced he offered to take me out to buy me a dress. "Get with the times old man." I had many piercings, I had long hair, I had no hair, I colored my hair, I never sagged, by I actually let my body breath by wearing loose fit clothing. I dated different races, I listened to obscene music and I experimented with drugs. My father objected to many things, but he let me be me and I turned out to be a respectful, God fearing American.
Let kids be kids, but let them know where you stand as an adult. Young adults, teens, kids will do what they want. I'd rather my child be half naked and painted up at a high school football game, rather than doing half the things I was doing as a teen.
My Father...
... always says, "We need to fast forward to the fifties." In some instances I believe he is absolutely correct. I mean, who wears knee pads and a helmet when riding a bike? I have plenty of scars from "being a kid" and I'm alive, healthy and responsible because I was allowed to make my own decisions (sometimes mistakes) and learn from them. After school, after my homework was completed, you wouldn't see me until dinner time and I didn't have a cell phone for you to call and check on me. Too much coddling going on by parents and authority...
This Rule Is Unfair!!!
I am a junior at Grassfield High School, and I think that this rule is absoloutly unfair. Just because a few people decided to put hand prints in inappropriate places doesn't mean that all of us should get punished. People in the sports at school wear sports bras all the time to practice. At Deep Creek, which is the school that I went to my freshman year, the guys and girls painted all the time and nobody ever had a problem with it. Last year everyday all you heard was "YOU ARE GRIZZLIES NOW" and we were forced to leave all our friends and other school's spirit behind, but it did not take long for us to get school spirit at Grassfield. Now they are trying to take a major part of the pride we have in our school away. I understand the dress code, but during spirit week they are not as strict on it, so what's next them telling us that we can't dress up for spirit week because our outfits are to "inappropriate" for school. I think that the administrators have bigger problems to worry about then a few GRIZZLIES showing their pride at a football game.
Good grief Boat_drinks!!
First of all, the last time I looked, girls' swimsuits for the team were one-piece (someone correct me if this has changed). 2nd, while it is expected that the swim team dons appropriate attire for a meet (swimsuits) it would not be expected that the attendees come dressed in similar attire. 3rd, this has no relevance on body painting at a football game.
I wasn't there, so I don't know, but I suspect that the complaining largely came as a result of hand prints where they don't belong and I'd be willing to bet that what appeared as "topless" was nothing more than creative (but still inappropriate) painting.
Good Grief!
Offended by bare chested men and bare midriff women? What about the swim team? Are they going to say that the swimmers have to be fully clothed because someone might be offended? After all, it is also a violation of the school dress code policy.
The school should be happy that at least the students spelled "Seniors" correctly.
Has it been that long?
When I was in high school, my parents would not let me out of the house if the tiniest bit of midriff was showing, or if my shirt resembled long underwear too closely. Most teens in that same situation would just cover up the offending clothing with a sweater and take it off once they get to school. I wonder how many parents really approve of their daughter's choice of clothing (or lack thereof) at this football game or even know that they were dressed that way... On another note, it's too bad that society has strayed so far from any sense of modesty that there are people who are fighting to allow minor children to expose their bodies and undergarments in order to promote school spirit.
Matter of opinion
When you get down to it, the sociological reasonings behind policies, laws, and the like; they are but opinions to an issue. That is why there are always disagreements, lawsuits, petitions, minority classes, minority issues going unreported (because the vast majority doesn't want the conflict), and so on.
Having resided in Great Bridge for about 8 years and attending G.B.H.S. while there (with M. Bernard on staff) I'm not surprised by this motion. G.B. is an ultra-conservative township. Administrators bend and sway to parents whoe's and try to keep their employee records spotless. My mother left their school system b/c she didn't approve of such a strategy. Also, Grassfield is simply a second edition of G.B. and didn't G.B. just refuse it's cherished marching band park interaction on a Disney trip?
"Chaos is not chaos if the largest authoritative power deems it not" -- Horatio --
Doc
School dress codes apply at all SCHOOL events, therefore it is NOT a parental decision. And yes, there are dress codes in the law books as well. To say that the government overstepped its bounds here is as ridiculous as a Libertarian ever holding office.