School Will Be Handing Out ‘Modesty Ponchos’ If Prom Dresses Don’t Meet Dress Code

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A Catholic high school in Michigan has recently announced plans to give out “modesty ponchos” at prom if female students aren’t dressed according to the school’s standards of appropriateness.

Say what?

Administrators at the Divine Child High School in Dearborn, Michigan are supposedly very worried about what the sight of a bit of shoulder or cleavage might mean for students attending prom. So now they have a ridiculous display at the school showing girls what they can expect to happen if they show up to prom dressed inappropriately.

A poncho….

Dearborn Catholic high school to hand out ‘Modesty Ponchos’ for teens dressed inappropriately for prom, reports @JDupnackFOX2https://t.co/FWksXFrHX1pic.twitter.com/fYvZIz4DMM

— FOX 2 Detroit (@FOX2News) April 30, 2018

The school has even attached a note letting girls know the purpose behind the special cloaks.

“If your dress does not meet our formal dance dress requirements – no problem! We’ve got you covered — literally. This is our Modesty Poncho, which you’ll be given at the door. :)”

An anonymous student at the school told Fox 2 News that it will be up to teachers to decide what dresses pass make the cut when students walk in the door for the dance. “I do believe the school has gone too far with this,” the student says. “As we walk into prom, we are to shake hands with all the teachers and if you walk through and a teacher deems your dress is inappropriate you will be given a poncho at the door.”

Imagine this….. Teachers shaking students’ hands while giving them an up-and-down visual assessment and making a quick decision over whether they’re showing too much skin?

This feels wrong on so many levels, doesn’t it?

This anonymous student is also concerned with how the school will handle anyone who complains publicly about it. “Who knows what will happen to those who try and speak out against it,” she says.

Divine Child already requires parents to sign off in advance on a dress code which outlines appropriate prom attire, but the poncho was added after the fact by theology teacher Mary Pat O’Malley.

The teacher told Fox 2 News that the ponchos were displayed in advance to give female students time to hopefully find a dress that won’t be poncho’d at the door.

“We are trying to focus on the inner beauty and not draw attention to something that doesn’t need attention drawn to it,” O’Malley explains. “It was really intended as a deterrent and a light hearted one at that.”

O’Malley and the school’s principal told Fox 2 News that no parents have complained yet, but an anonymous parent told the news station the poncho threat is “a method of shaming” that’s “degrading to females and its interpretation what’s modest and what isn’t.”

The prom is taking place on May 12th and Divine Child junior Erin Wade tells Detroit Free Press that the poncho display now has her concerned enough to look for a new dress, worrying that her mermaid-style glittery gray one might not pass the modesty test.

turns out the prom dress that i’ve had for months is against school code! looks like i have to return it and buy a brand new dress just so that i don’t get adorned with this beautiful, totally not slut-shaming, modesty poncho!!! pic.twitter.com/4JdEAo4Ryh

— Erin Wade (@erinnicolewade) April 23, 2018

She tweeted, “turns out the prom dress that i’ve had for months is against school code! looks like i have to return it and buy a brand new dress just so that i don’t get adorned with this beautiful, totally not slut-shaming, modesty poncho!”

“It’s a very stressful time,” she told the paper.