Bonnie Peltier was at her daughter's kindergarten orientation in North Carolina when she learned all girls at the charter school must wear skirts.
鈥淚 was stunned," Peltier said. 鈥滻鈥檓 looking around the room at the other parents and nobody seemed to mind. And I was like, 鈥業 can鈥檛 be the only one who thinks this is crazy.鈥�"
Peltier began researching the law that evening, embarking on a legal journey that spanned eight years and came to involve two other students and the American Civil Liberties Union. It ended Monday when by Charter Day School , which a lower court .
鈥淟ittle girls don鈥檛 know how to sit like a lady,鈥� Peltier said, adding that skirts were impractical for various school activities, including sitting on the floor during reading time.
The family now lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where Peltier's daughter is in eighth grade, earning As and taking honors classes.
鈥淎nd she wears pants,鈥� Peltier said.
Charter Day School, which is in eastern North Carolina, had required girls to wear skirts, jumpers or skorts, except on gym days. Baker Mitchell, who founded the school, said in a statement he was disappointed by the Supreme Court's denial.
Mitchell warned that leaving in place the ruling against the dress code threatens charter schools' autonomy, 鈥渟ubjecting them to the same rules, regulations, and political machinations that have crippled government-run school systems.鈥�
Mitchell said his charter schools, now called Classical Charter Schools of America, have been recognized as a 鈥済ap buster鈥� for racial and income disparities in test scores through innovations and unique policies.
he founded a 鈥渟chool of choice鈥� with a classical curriculum that was very traditional, promoting chivalry and respect.
鈥淲e want boys to be boys and girls to be girls and have mutual respect for each other," he said. "We want boys to carry the umbrella for girls and open doors for them ... and we want to start teaching that in grammar school.鈥�
The Supreme Court let stand an appellate ruling that the dress code violated female students鈥� equal protection rights, while perpetuating stereotypes that had 鈥減otentially devastating consequences for young girls.鈥�
The school based its policy on the view that girls are 鈥渇ragile vessels鈥� deserving of 鈥済entle鈥� treatment by boys, the appeals court stated. Because public charter schools receive public funds, the lower court said they are 鈥渟tate actors鈥� and subject to the Constitution's equal protection clause.
If the school 鈥渨ishes to continue engaging in this discriminatory practice, (it) must do so as a private school,鈥� the majority of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals said.
The Supreme Court's denial was a significant win for those who have long held that charter schools are, by their very nature, public institutions. But the debate over whether privately run charter schools can forgo constitutional protections, often in the name of innovation, is far from settled.
鈥淭he Supreme Court kicked the can down the road,鈥� said Preston Green, a professor of education and law at the University of Connecticut. 鈥淪tay tuned. More to come.鈥�
For example, a state school board in Oklahoma approved what would be the first publicly funded religious school in the nation , despite warnings that it's unconstitutional. And the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2010 that an Arizona charter school was not a state actor in a case involving a gym teacher who was terminated.
Ten states 鈥� including South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas 鈥� had asked the Supreme Court to take up Charter Day School's appeal. They argued that charter schools are designed to encourage innovation and diversity, while helping students who are underserved by traditional public schools.
鈥淭he question presented in this case ... warrants this court鈥檚 attention because it may dictate whether such schools can continue to exist,鈥� the states wrote in October.
The Biden Administration also weighed in through the Solicitor General, asking the Supreme Court to deny the request: 鈥淣orth Carolina law establishes those schools as 鈥榩ublic school(s)鈥� that are open to the same students as the state鈥檚 traditional public schools.鈥�
Ember Reichgott Junge, a former Minnesota state senator who authored the nation's first charter school law in 1991, told The Associated Press that 鈥渇olks on the left and on the right have tried to make charter schools something they are not.鈥�
鈥淥n the left, they鈥檝e tried to make them more like district schools. And on the right, we鈥檙e seeing this push towards bringing a religious curriculum,鈥� said Reichgott Junge, who helped start the National Charter Schools Founders Library, which documents the origins and growth of the charter school movement.
Charter schools were created to provide public school choice with independence outside the traditional district structure, Reichgott Junge said. But they were 鈥渁lways public schools protected by the U.S. Constitution.鈥�
Jennesa Calvo-Friedman, an ACLU staff attorney, said only a minority of charter schools believe they are not public schools bound by various legal protections.
鈥淭his hasn鈥檛 been an issue that has been litigated all that much, in part because it hasn鈥檛 really been a question,鈥� Calvo-Friedman added.
Peltier said she always thought her case would prevail.
鈥淚t was so obvious to me that this was just a ridiculous thing to ask a girl to do,鈥� Peltier said.
