And the clothes just keep getting smaller.

As the mercury rises, the modesty falls. I talked with seven different girls today who were wearing SUCH short shorts that they caused several traffic jams in the commons and caused a couple of male teachers to go home “sick.”

I saw the first girl before school, she was actually wearing a very short skirt – so short I was embarrassed looking at her (I can only imagine what was going through the boys’ minds!) She completed the ensemble with a pair of high-heeled boots that would be the envy of any woman of the night. I stopped her and said, “That skirt is painfully short. Do you have something else to change into?” She looked at me like I was nuts. She said, “I’m not staying at school today anyway.” I watched her walk out of the building… I was curious about where she was going, so I looked her up. Oh good, I thought… she is in band so she is spending the day at the other high school… playing the saxophone (picture the posture…scary, huh?)

Teachers who called my office brought the next four girls to my attention. I called each one in and explained that her shorts were simply too short to wear at school. Each girl agreed to change – one had to run to her house nearby and the others put on gym shorts. All four seemed totally confused about why their clothing wasn’t appropriate. I don't get the judgment (or lack thereof).

The next girl came in to my office on her own. She said she was sent down by a teacher to check with me about whether her shorts were too short. I asked her what she thought. She said she didn’t think they were too short. I explained that the standard is a three inch inseam… the girl said, “uh oh… I’ll go change.” In her defense, the girl had a very immature body – very skinny legs – she didn’t look terrible in the shorts… and frankly, it’s dang hard to find shorts with a three inch inseam (unless you shop in the grandma section at Sears!)

I saw the final girl in the hall. She looked like she was the latest entry in the shortest shorts contest. I told her they were too short and she needed to go change. She pleaded with me not to make her miss her next class because she had a project she had to finish. The girl misses a lot of school due to health problems, so I agreed and told her she needed to go home to change after the next class. A couple of hours later, I thought about her again and wanted to see if she complied with my request. I walked over to the field house to take a peek into her health classroom.

I was glad to see she withdrew her entry.