The principal at a Southern California middle school ordered a male eighth grader to remove the Elsa costume the boy had chosen to wear on spirit day when students were allowed to dress up as Disney characters.
The incident occurred on Thursday at Ethan Chase Middle School in the city of Menifee, Calif., reports Los Angeles television station KTLA.
The 13-year-old male student who chose to dress as Elsa — the misunderstood snow queen from “Frozen” — is Austin Lacey.
“I wore it for fun because I’m just one of those people,” Austin told KTLA. “I like to go all out.”
Lacey’s costume, which consisted primarily of a light blue gown and a bright yellow wig — was a big hit. Fellow students asked to pose in selfies.
However, the principal at Ethan Chase Middle School — Chris Hernandez, according to the school website — was not amused. Hernandez thought the costume was causing too much of a ruckus. He told Lacey to take it off, which Lacey did.
School district officials supported the principal’s decision.
“At no time was there an indication that the student was expressing any particular message by his actions and the (principal’s) action was based upon the need to stop a general disruption,” Romoland school district superintendent Julie Vitale said in a statement obtained by The Press-Enterprise, an area newspaper.
Lacey faced no disciplinary action and was allowed to stay at school.
Other students said they didn’t understand what the big deal was.
“It wasn’t a disruption,” 14-year-old Kassandra Melara told KTLA. “Everybody was taking pictures with him. Nobody had a problem with it.”
Students also noted that Lacey is a popular kid who gets good grades.
The kerfuffle is somewhat reminiscent of a My Little Pony backpack fracas which occurred at an elementary school in Buncombe County, N.C. in 2014. Officials at Candler Elementary School told a 9-year-old boy and his mother that the boy needed to leave his My Little Pony backpack and My Little Pony action figures at home because other boys were bullying him. (RELATED: Bullied Boy Forced To Stop Toting Around My Little Pony Merchandise At Grade School)
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