Boy With a Purse Causes School Freakout

13-year-old Skyler Davis, an
8th-grader in Anderson County Junior-Senior School in Garnett,
Kansas, just wants to wear his Vera Bradley purse to class, but
some folks are just being jerks about it.

Based on coverage from KCTV in Kansas, it doesn’t appear as
though the problem is bullying from other students. Even Skyler’s
own brother is on his side. It’s school officials who are telling
him he can’t wear his purse in class, going so far as to suspend
him. From
KCTV:

His furious mother says it is discrimination because girls are
allowed to have purses with no repercussions.

“I don’t think everyone should be treated differently,” Skyler
Davis said Wednesday. “Everyone should have the same
privileges.”

Anderson County School District Superintendent Don Blome said
Thursday that he could not discuss the specific case because of
privacy concerns. However, he said all students, whether female or
male, are prevented from having bags, purses, satchels and
backpacks in the core classrooms like English and math. The bags
must be stored in lockers during class time, he said.

Mom couldn’t find anything in the school manual about storing
purses or bags in lockers. Skyler said he’d been wearing the purse
for a while with no problems. Unfortunately despite interviewing
the family, KCTV didn’t seem to attempt to check with any female
students who attended school there to verify that Skyler was being
singled out. The superintendent insisted the bag policy has been in
place for years, but that just makes it stranger that it’s not in
the student manual; not that it actually matters because the rule
is stupid in the first place.

Vera Bradley is taking advantage of the publicity and contacted
KCTV to offer Skyler some more bags. Unfortunately for him, the
school is insisting on not letting him carry his purse to
class:

[Skyler’s mom Leslie] Willis said she was told that the
suspension wouldn’t be lifted until Skyler stops wearing the purse,
which he had said on Wednesday that he wouldn’t do.

But with some time to reflect, the teen is unlikely to dig in
his heels forever.

“We’re going to have to find some compromise in this,” his
mother said. She didn’t detail what that could be.

Why not check out Kansas charter
schools, Mom?