Cheerleaders forced to wear shorts and t-shirts under 'too skimpy' uniforms

The age old tradition of cheerleaders wearing their uniforms to school on game day may be over – at least in some schools across the country.

Officials in one Florida school district ruled this year that the uniforms are too skimpy to wear to class – even though they are still allowed to be wo at games, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Principals at some schools in Lake County, Fla., are requiring cheerleaders to wear long shorts or pants under their skirts and a T-shirt under the uniform tops.

And that, parents says, is ridiculous – especially considering they had to shell out hundreds of dollars for their children's gear.

"They're now banning it like it's something inappropriate or poographic," Lisa Milligan, whose daughter cheers at Mount Dora High School, told the Sentinel. "If you're going to allow them to wear them to the game, then why not allow them to wear them to school?"

School administrators said that the uniforms violate the school's dress code – even if they are emblematic of school spirit.

Cheerleaders said the rule was unfair because they just wanted to wear their outfits to get everyone pumped up for game day.

"It shows that we're a team just like all the other sports," Michelle Thomas, a varsity cheerleader, told the paper.

The bad cheer has spread across the country: in San Jose, Calif., officials at Piedmont Hills High School agreed cheerleaders needed to cover up with sweats if they want to wear their uniforms to school.

Prudish? Earlier this week, cheerleaders at San Jose Piedmont High School in Califoia also complained over new uniform regulations

Cheerleaders at that school pointed out that in addition to sweatpants looking "dorky," it was "95 degrees outside," the San Jose Mercury News reported.

"This is really unfair to us," senior cheerleader Antonia Bavilacqua told the paper. "We're just sad and hurt. It's our school colors and spirit. And they're making us feel like outcasts."

Officials countered that dorky or not, their hemlines were just too short for comfort. The ban was part of a bigger sweep against miniskirts at the school, where inappropriately dressed students are forced to change clothes.

"Don't you have a teenager?" the school's vice principal asked the paper. "Well, if you don't, then you haven't seen how short these skirts are."

 

Cover-up: Intent on cracking down on miniskirts, the Califoia high school's principal has decided the cheer squad's new uniforms also have no place in school