PENSACOLA - A middle school student has been suspended because she is wearing a small diamond stud in her nose, which the principal says is distracting.
Tori Swanson, 12, is serving a three-day suspension for wearing the stud to Bailey Middle School and it will be renewed every time the sixth grader shows up with it, Principal Judy Pippen said.
Pippen said facial piercings distract other students and could hurt their performance on the state's standardized test.
Tori doesn't understand why she is being punished by the school. She got the piercing earlier this month with a friend and had her father's permission. Her mother Lori Swanson, a legal assistant, is threatening a lawsuit.
What particularly galls Lori Swanson is that students in other Escambia County schools are allowed to wear nose studs. Norm Ross, the county's assistant school superintendent, said the district's disciplinary code gives principals discretion on what constitutes a distraction.
Tori doesn't plan to remove the stud.
"If it does become a problem, I would want everyone else in the district to take theirs out."
