Florida school board discusses banning 'furry' attire as part of new dress code

School board discusses ban of 'furry' attire

Some school board members in Brevard County brought up changing the dress code to ban students from dressing as "furries."

Some school board members in Brevard County brought up changing the dress code to ban students from dressing as "furries."

This came up at a school board workshop this week when board members discussed a survey of students about the dress code.

"There are children in our schools that are dressing as animals," said Megan Wright, a school board member. "That sounds innocent when you say it out loud, but there are things like dog leashes and collars and walking a child as though they’re an animal and tails that are tripping hazards."

"They’re called ‘furries,’" said Matt Susan, the board's chair. "To be honest with you, it’s an anomaly I didn’t have when I was in school, and I’m sure you didn’t either."

To be clear, the board members are not talking about the full-body fur suits you might see at a convention.

They believe accessories like tails, collar or ears might be distracting other students.

"They’re distracting the schools by barking and meowing and stuff like that," Susan said.

Out of more than 2,000 students surveyed, the board members acknowledge that this was not the most common issue brought up.

A spokesperson for the district told FOX 35 they have not seen issues with students and furry attire, and they hadn't seen reports of students with collars and leashes.

"If you’re telling elementary school families that their kids can’t emulate a cat or a dog or a unicorn, you’ve just eliminated a lot of the clothes, and fun accessories that girls like to wear at that age," said Kelly Kervin, a Brevard County parent.

Kervin says her daughter and many other students like to wear cat-ear headbands and doesn't see why it's a problem.

She thinks the behavior is what needs to be addressed, not the attire.

"The Brevard Public School Board has so many issues to tackle, I just don’t see how this is even in the top 50," Kervin said.

The school board is still working out what changes to make to next year's dress code.

They plan to vote on it at the end of the month.