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School Board Expected To Discuss Body Paint

Sarasota Herald Tribune

Jessyca Altenbach and Monica Cummings, both seniors at Manatee High School, were asked to leave their homecoming football game because of their body paint.

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STAFF REPORT / SARASOTA HERALD TRIBUNE

Published: October 22, 2007

MANATEE - In the wake of a controversy sparked by two girls who wore bikinis and body paint to a high school football game, the Manatee School Board tonight is expected to discuss making rules regarding body paint at football games.

The issue arose when Jessyca Altenbach and Monica Cummings, both 17 and Manatee High School seniors, were told to leave a football game after they wore bikini tops and painted their torsos in slogans and school colors.

The girls complained that there was a double-standard at work because boys go shirtless and paint themselves often at football games.

One school board member hinted the district may ban body paint for all students. The meeting tonight is at 5:45 p.m. at the School Board administrative center, 215 Manatee Ave. W. in Bradenton.

Altenbach and Cummings showed up for the school's October 12 homecoming game sporting torsos slathered in the school's red and blue colors -- painted to look like shirts, complete with short sleeves.

"Three, four weeks earlier, we saw our guy friends had done it at a home game," explained Jessyca, an honors student with a scholarship to attend
Florida State University. "We said, 'Let's do it at the next home game.'"

The girls wore bikini tops to leave bare enough space for their paint.

They bought tickets at the stadium and grabbed seats in the stands.

But a dozen or so people from a crowd of thousands that night complained to school staff, some going so far as to say it looked like the girls were topless. A high school employee, acting on orders of Manatee Principal Robert Gagnon, pulled the girls out of the stands and told them to cover up or leave.

"The bottom line is people found it offensive," Gagnon said.

Check back with TBO.com for a decision.

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