Student Suspended Over Purse Ban – She Brought Feminine Products To School


Common sense is a foreign concept in the educational system these days. A 17-year-old young lady is not only humiliated, but also punished, for the crime of carrying feminine products to class in a purse. She is in violation of the school’s concealed carry policy, purse ban.

In yet another example of school policies going to the absurd extreme in an effort to curb problems, Galesburg High in Illinois handed a green slip to a female student who brought a purse to carry her monthly items. She was sentenced to in-school suspension.

Her mother is livid.

School officials told them that she would be permitted to bring a purse if she would go to her doctor and get a note saying that the student suffered from a medical condition.

Administrators have opened themselves wide open to charges of sexual bias in their purse ban policy. Carri Harding, mother of the unnamed student, told WDAQ:

“Really, a medical condition? I mean, every woman has it every month. It’s not a medical condition; it’s nature.”

Principle Roy van Meter enacted the purse ban at the high school last fall because of “things like people texting in purses, in class or inappropriate items coming into class; and so it wasn’t a single incident, it wasn’t even two or three, it was a combination of all those.”

But obviously the recurring needs of teenage girls was not considered in the all-or-nothing purse ban, resulted in public humiliation for the student, whose mother reported that she loves school, but now she doesn’t even want to go back.

In this villainous gold-studded purple clutch purse, there were personal feminine napkins, hand sanitizing lotion, and wipes, items hardly a threat to safety or discipline in any school setting. But “that time of the month” is not seen a as a valid excuse to bring a purse to provide a semblance of privacy for the female students at Galesburg High. The ban must be enforced, apparently, no matter the emotional cost to potentially half of the school’s student body.

“I didn’t find it fair. I thought it was quite degrading actually,” Harding told reporters. “Checking for weapons and checking for drugs and checking for all that, I am in compliance with that all the way, but this was the last straw.”

The marquee at Galeburg High reads, “You learn something every day if you pay attention.” Perhaps the administration should pay attention and try to learn something from this ban and the unfortunate consequences.

Last year The Inquisitr reported on a preschool that banned superhero play. Kids are getting into trouble for eating their pop-tarts into the shape of guns. Schools have banned things like hugs, Father’s Day cards, flags, and games of tag. It’s like a comedy of the absurd, except it’s happening all around the county. Is it possible for those institutions that are supposed to be educating our children to return to some semblance of rationality and common sense?

Since purses are banned at Galesburg High, how are girls supposed to carry their feminine products? Or should they just stay home for a few days each month?

[images via WQAD and bing]

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