NC high school student not allowed on bus due to outfit

Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Hoke County student denied bus ride home over outfit
An administrator told Makhigha Davis this shirt was not appropriate - but only after school was over.

RAEFORD, NC -- A North Carolina high school is under fire after an administrator pulled a student off the bus citing inappropriate clothing.

India Middleton said she received a call from her daughter Friday after school telling her that she wouldn't be on the bus.

She said the assistant principal refused to let Makhigha Davis ride home because he said her shirt showed too much shoulder.

Davis said she waited inside the school for as long as she could until the last staffer left.

"She said, 'You have to wait outside because I'm about to leave and the office is about to close,'" Davis said.

Her mother arrived nearly two hours later and no member of the school staff was present.

The video of Middleton picking up her daughter from Hoke County High School and checking the locked doors has garnered the attention of thousands.

"For you to have those doors locked, it's unfair to children," said Middleton.

Makhigha said she went the entire school day without any teachers commenting on her shirt.

"I don't send my children out here in provocative clothes to break any rules at school," said Middleton. "I feel like that could have been handled a different way."

Sister station WTVD reached out to Hoke County Schools, and officials quickly took responsibility in a statement:

"Hoke County Schools will not make excuses for the poor judgement demonstrated by the assistant principal. The best course of action would have been to allow the student to get on the bus Friday. All administrators understand that if a child is pulled from a bus then they are responsible for that child's supervision until they are safely picked up by a parent."

The school district's response wasn't enough for Middleton, who hasn't sent her child back to the school since.

"It seems like there is no consequence for the administrator. He gets to go about his regular day," Middleton said.

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