A Kelowna school has joined dozens of others around North America in banning a provocative cancer awareness bracelet.
Spring Valley Middle School Principal Troy White has banned students from wearing “I ‘heart’ boobies” bracelets, a fundraising item for the U.S. based Keep A Breast Foundation.
“It’s inappropriate again, according to the principal, in terms of the code of conduct at that school,” said School District 23 school board chair Rolli Cacchioni.
White deferred calls about the bracelet ban to Superintendent Hugh Gloster, who was out of district with students on a field trip Thursday.
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Cacchioni says the board was updated on the ban at Wednesday night’s meeting.
The issue of banning the bracelets at all schools in the Central Okanagan was not before trustees.
He says the slang word ‘boobies’ was deemed to be against school code of conduct rules by the principal.
“Because it’s a public organization, we have codes of conduct that speak to respectful language, speak to the whole question of appropriate language and the whole use of slang,” says Cacchioni.
The Kelowna Boathouse store that sells the bracelets can’t keep enough of them in stock.
“The people that buy them already have two or three on,” says Boathouse sales associate Patrick Watson.
Kimmy McAtee, spokesperson for the Keep A Breast Foundation, says the bracelets are not about pushing boundaries but about teaching young people about the links between health and respecting their bodies early in life.
While the foundation has been using the bracelets as a fundraiser since 2004, they only started to see schools banning them in the last year.
The Keep A Breast foundation helps students challenge school bracelet bans by offering a form letter on their website.
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