Boy, 13, suspended for wearing purse to school

GARNETT, Kan., Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A 13-year-old Kansas boy said he was suspended from school because he refused to stop carrying his colorful Vera Bradley purse.

Skylar Davis, an eighth-grader at Anderson County Junior/Senior High School in Garnett, said he was called into Principal Don Hillard's office Wednesday and told to take off the purse he has worn to school every day since the start of the school year, KCTV, Kansas City, Mo., reported Friday.

"I was told to go put it up, and I went to the office, and they told me that I had to. I refused to take it off and they suspended me," Davis said.

He said the girls at school are allowed to carry their purses.

"It expresses myself, and I think everyone else can wear it, so I can wear it as well," he said.

Leslie Willis, Skylar's mother, said she checked the school's student handbook and it makes no mention of rules regarding bags and purses.

"Skylar has been going to school since August every morning with that same Vera Bradley bag on, has not taken it off. What is the problem today?" she said.

Hillard did not respond to messages left at the school and on his cellphone.

Willis said she was told her son will not be allowed to return to the school until he removes the purse.