A Kansas eighth grader told local news stations that he was suspended from school because he would not remove his Vera Bradley purse after the principal of his school told him to take it off.
13-year-old Skylar Davis' mother told KCTV5 she was furious to find out her son was punished for wearing an accessory donned by girls who see no repercussions under the same circumstances.
"I don't think everyone should be treated differently," the student stated. "Everyone should have the same privileges."
Skylar, who attends Anderson County Senior-Junior School, said he'd carried the multi-colored shoulder bag many times before with no protest from his peers or the administration.
"It expresses myself and I think everyone else can wear it, so I wear it as well," Skylar told KCTV.
But a problem arose on Wednesday, when he was sent to Assistant Principal Don Hillard's office after refusing to remove the garment.
"I went to the office and I refused to take it off, and they suspended me," he explained. Administrators at the school then called his mother, Leslie Willis, to pick up Skylar.
"I was a little furious, and I called the school [and spoke to Hillard] to re-verify the story, and yeah, he refused to take off his Vera Bradley bag, nothing more to it," Willis said, adding that she'd taken another look at the student handbook following the suspension and did not see any mention of bags and purses. According to KCTV, she's called into question the timing of the suspension and the reasoning behind it.
"Skylar has been going to school since August with that same Vera Bradley bag on, hasn't taken it off. What is the problem?" she asked.
Skylar's sister Dakota Haight told KCTV that she was disturbed by the unfair double standards applied to her brother's case.
"I've seen girls wear short shorts. Why don't they get kicked out? But then he gets kicked out for a purse? That doesn't make sense," she said.
No representative from the school has come forward with a statement, but Willis said that she was told her son's suspension would be upheld until he stopped wearing the purse. Skylar, however, maintained that he will continue wearing the Vera Bradley bag.
CBS 5 - KPHO
