Middle school plays ‘matchmaker’ by asking kids to wear green if single, La. dad says

When M.J. Mouton heard about the “totally inappropriate” spirit day at his daughter’s middle school, he posted a message on Twitter.

That tweet detailed how students at Iowa Middle School in Louisiana were told to wear red if they are in a relationship, green if they are single and yellow if “it is complicated” on Monday.

That message has amassed nearly 20,000 retweets and 150,000 likes since it was posted on Saturday.

“I don’t think we need the school to play matchmaker for a 10 to 14-year-old,” he told KPLC. It was called “Stoplight Day.”

Along with sharing a campus, Iowa Middle School and Iowa High School are also doing the same spirit week, according to KPLC.

For Mouton, the spirit day goes too far for middle school students, according to Yahoo Lifestyle. He wrote on Twitter that the spirit day helps high school students find a date for homecoming.

“Maybe it’s appropriate for high school, but for middle schoolers, it’s not,” Mouton said, according to Yahoo Lifestyle. “(My daughter) doesn’t really have interest in those things. She also sees that there’s going to be some kids who potentially are going to feel bad, or kids who are going to participate because they want to feel a part of something.”

Mouton said he asked school officials in an email if they “are promoting relationships for kids in middle school” and “setting up boys and especially girls to be targets,” as reported by Yahoo Lifestyle.

The concerned father posted a screenshot that appears to show a response from an apologetic school official.

KPLC reported that Calcasieu Parish School Board declined to comment, while Yahoo Lifestyle reported it did not receive a response.

Doneka Dugas said the spirit day is OK for her child who attends Iowa High School — but she questioned including middle school students because “they really don’t know anything about relationships and stuff,” according to KPLC.

And how did everything turn out on Monday?

“The day went as advertised,” Mouton tweeted. “But I did speak with the school board rep. A majority of students did not participate. The (school board rep) assured me that nothing like this will ever happen again. I wasn’t the only parent to complain.”

In Alabama, another spirit day went awry when a group of seven friends — six white and one black — posed for a controversial photo. The high school students were trying to dress in the theme of “Dallas,” and the six white students stood on top of their black friend for a picture captioned “we got us one.”

According to CBS42, some students at Moody High School in St. Louis County, Alabama, interpreted the “Dallas” theme as redneck.

But after talking to the students, Principal Christoper Walters wrote that there didn’t appear to be any malicious intent in the image.

“We have confirmed that the students involved are friends and participated voluntarily in creating the picture, which they say was intended to be a joke,” he wrote, according to WBRC.

The black student in the image confirmed that the photograph was intended to be humorous, according to CBS42.

“I didn’t think about it when we first took the photos,” he said. “I would still like to say sorry again to anyone that I offended.”