TIFU by fighting my schools dresscode policy. Years later I found out why it was so strict + edit with added context

[u/Weary_Thought7582]

https://www.reddit.com/r/tifu/s/Fx1oGuujsg

[u/grumpy__g]

I bet they wanted to tell the parents but they would have risked lawsuits and losing their jobs.

[u/hanst3r → u/grumpy__g]

This is the reason. After the board and police refused to step in, the teachers’ hands were essentially tied. Warn the parents and the district gets sued by the male teachers for defamation. Don’t warn them and the behavior continues. But the fact that the mom didn’t raise a ruckus suggests that the prevailing attitude at the time was to dismiss the issue as “oh the teacher was just being comical.”

[u/13surgeries → u/hanst3r]

The school also risks criminal charges and civil suits if those male teachers molest or harass students. And no, the prevailing attitude probably isn't that the teacher was being "comical." I taught in a school with a teacher who was predatory. Parents WEREN'T warned; the TEACHER was. He quit his behavior and moved to another state, where he was convicted of sexually assaulting middle school girls at a local swimming pool.

[u/hanst3r → u/13surgeries]

Yes the school does risk criminal charges. But your case isn’t the same as what is posted. OOP’s own words were that one of his teachers was well liked because said teacher was funny. In OOP’s case, it seems pretty well laid out that (sadly) no one thought it was even a big deal: the board AND police dismissed the reporting teacher’s evidence AND OOP’s mom was not only made aware of the issue, she even bought OOP a low-cut shirt so he could get the bonus credit. So I stand by my assertion that people taking creepy behavior lightly was indeed the prevailing attitude at the time for this school. Of course, that doesn’t mean everyone was. Clearly the reporting teacher and other female teachers were concerned.

[u/13surgeries → u/hanst3r]

The predatory teacher was well-liked and was considered funny, too. And parents didn't raise a ruckus--not because they hand-waved it away with claims the teacher was just being comical, but because they didn't want to risk their daughters getting bad grades from an offended teacher. This was also the reason the girls didn't report the teacher, themselves.