French school board apologizes for dress code enforcement blitz

Ottawa's French Catholic school board is apologizing to studentsat an Orlans high school and their families after hundreds of students protesteda dress codeenforcement blitz.

Disgruntled students atcole secondaire catholique Batrice-Deslogestook to the street Friday to protest the previous day's enforcement blitz, in which mainly girls were called out into the hallway to see if their clothing conformed to the rules.

On Saturday, a letter from the school board's director of education, Marc Bertrand, said all students must be treated with dignity and respectand the way staff enforced the dress code was "not acceptable."

"The administration of the Conseil des coles catholiques du Centre-Est is sincerely sorry for this outcome and wishes to apologize to the students and families who have been disturbed by these events," wrote Bertrand in the French-languageletter sent to students' parents.

• Orlans high school students protest dress code enforcement blitz

According to the board, a preliminaryinvestigation found some students, mostly girls, were called into the hallways and asked to bend their leg backwards at the knee to determine if their shorts complied with the dress code.

Bertrandsaid while many students feltdegraded and humiliated, the board had not yet found evidenceanyone had been asked to bend over an allegation made by several students at Friday's protest.

The board says follow-ups are underway with all of its schools.