A sweatshirt picked up during a family vacation to the town of Weed, Calif., caused a stir at a Bay Area middle school Monday after officials felt it was inappropriate and told the student wearing it to turn it inside out, according to the boy's father.
Tony Burnett said his son, Tony Jr., came home early from school because he was embarrassed by the ruckus.
At the center of the incident was a hooded sweatshirt brought when the family recently visited Weed during a four-day family vacation to Northern California and Oregon.
Across the front of the sweatshirt was the slogan "I [heart] Weed! California."
School officials at Pinole Middle School said the sweatshirt violated its dress code and asked Tony Jr. to wear it inside out.
"We know it's a little harsh," said West Contra Costa Unified School District Board President Charles Ramsey. "We know there's a place called Weed and it's something that everyone knows is a geographical location in California."
The elder Burnett said he thought the school overreacted to the sweatshirt.
"But we have a parent handbook that’s given out at the beginning of the year that outlines what is appropriate and what's not," Burnett explained. "I don't see any difference. Weed, California is a city that has been here a long, long time, and I just think that was wrong."
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