St. Joseph's High School (Barrie) - The "Sandal Scandal"

The "Sandal Scandal"

In spring 2005, approximately 50 students were sent to the office for dressing inappropriately on a casual dress, or "civvies", day. Their unruly behaviour in the hall outside the main office led the vice-principals to tell them to quiet down or go outside. Misunderstanding, they thought they were told to leave because of their footwear, and so they walked out the front doors of the school. A few then re-entered the school through other doors and encouraged their friends to join them outside. As it was a warm spring day, many did, and soon approximately 100 students gathered around the front steps. In their attempts to make a media event of the situation, a few students contacted the local news outlets. All but one declined to report on the story, and the one that did displayed photographs of students holding hastily made signs reading "Jesus wore sandals; why can't we?" A small number of agitated parents contacted the school to find out what was going on, and soon the "protest" fizzled. The students returned to classes and were merely issued warning letters about appropriate dress. Subsequent retellings, including a humorous valedictory address at the June graduation ceremony, distorted and magnified the story into a mass protest by hundreds of students.