Principal forces kilt-wearing student to change

WEST HAVEN, Utah (AP) — A kilt-wearing middle school student will get an apology from a principal who said the boy could be mistaken for a cross-dresser.

Gavin McFarland says he wore the kilt twice to Rocky Mountain Junior High as a prop for a school art project.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with it," McFarland said.

But last Wednesday, Principal Craig Jessop told the 14-year-old Hooper boy that the outfit could be misconstrued as cross-dressing and forced McFarland to change his clothes.

McFarland removed the kilt, hand-sewn over 40 hours by his mother, and wore shorts the rest of the day.

"It's ridiculous," said Paula McFarland, the boy's mother. "A kilt is a distinctive garment. Nobody mistakes it for a skirt."

Weber School District spokesman Nate Taggart said the district recognizes the kilt as an expression of McFarland's Scottish heritage. He says the kilt was not inappropriate, especially if it was part of a school project.

Taggart says Jessop has been asked to apologize.

The McFarland family actively celebrates its Scottish heritage. Preston McFarland, Gavin's father, manages a Web site for clan McFarlane and has a booth at Utah's Highland Games & Scottish Festival each year.

The kilt controversy has become a catalyst for discussion at school, Paula McFarland said.

"It's given (Gavin) a great chance to explain the Scottish kilt and tell them a little about what we do as a family," she said.

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Information from: Standard-Examiner, www.standard.net