A 17-year-old says she was told to put Band-Aids on her breasts after school officials claimed she was distracting male students 

                         

Officials at a high school in Florida reportedly pulled a teenage girl out of class last week after a teacher claimed her nipples were distracting male students.

Student Lizzy Martinez said she recently went to school bra-less because she had a sunburn.

Martinez, 17, told Yahoo Lifestyle that she "didn't think anything of it" when she decided not to wear a bra to school on April 2. According to the student, she was recovering from a sunburn and did not want her shoulders to be further irritated by bra straps. Instead, Martinez, a junior at Braden River High School in Bradenton, Florida, opted for a gray long-sleeve shirt that day.
                        

But before the school day was over, she was reportedly pulled out of her fifth-period class and sent to the dean's office.

According to BuzzFeed News, which spoke to Martinez as well as school officials, the dean told Martinez that one of her teachers was concerned that her breasts and nipples were "distracting" male students after hearing a boy laugh at her and tell his friends that she wasn't wearing a bra.
The dean then instructed Martinez to put on a second shirt, stand up, and "jump around" to "see how much [her] breasts moved," the student told BuzzFeed News. After that, Martinez said she was taken to the nurse's office and asked to cover up each of her nipples with two Band-Aids.
Martinez later took to Twitter to speak out about the incident. "I decided not to wear a bra today and got pulled out of class [because] one of my teachers complained that it was a 'distraction to boys in my class,'" she tweeted on April 2. "My school basically told me that boys' education is far more important than mine and I should be ashamed of my body."

I decided not to wear a bra today and got pulled out of class bc one of my teachers complained that it was a “distraction to boys in my class.” My school basically told me that boys’ education is far more important than mine and I should be ashamed of my body. @Manateeschools :)

— liz (@lizzymartineez) April 2, 2018

Martinez's mom, Kari Knop, also voiced her disagreement with school officials on social media. In a Facebook post from April 2, Knop revealed that she found out about the incident when the dean called her about Martinez's choice to go braless at school.

The school district says the student violated its dress code policy.

When INSIDER reached out to officials at Braden River High School for comment, Mitchell Teitelbaum, general counsel for the School District of Manatee County, confirmed that the incident with Martinez had been "brought to the attention of the Superintendent's Office for review."
"It is undisputed that this matter should have been handled differently at the school level," Teitelbaum said in a prepared statement emailed to INSIDER. "Corrective measures have been taken to prevent a reoccurrence in the way these matters will be addressed in the future."
In the statement, Teitelbaum said that Martinez had violated the school's dress code. "It is clear the intent of school officials was to assist the student in addressing the situation," Teitelbaum continued.
                          
braden river high school dress code policy
As it stands, the current Code of Student Conduct for the School District of Manatee County does not explicitly require students to wear bras. The district's policy only prohibits "personal attire or grooming" that "distracts the attention of other students or teachers from their school work" or "disrupts educational activities and processes of the school." According to the dress code, students will be required to "make the necessary alterations to such attire or grooming" before entering a classroom again, or they may be assigned to an in-school suspension.
When INSIDER asked Knop if school officials ever specified which part of its policy her daughter had allegedly violated, she said she was initially told that Martinez "was not in dress code violation." According to Knop, it was only after she "pursued the matter further" that the school district's Superintendent — who Knop said "never saw the shirt on [Martinez]" — claimed that the 17-year-old had violated the Code of Student Conduct.
According to a Facebook post from April 4, Knop also claimed that the Superintendent "assured" her that next year's dress code would be updated to require female students to wear a bra "because that is proper attire for learning." Knop said that when she asked whether men with "man boobs" would be required to wear similar "supportive devices," the Superintendent said "a bra is not an expectation [the school] has for males."
When INSIDER reached to school officials about these alleged changes, Michael Barber, the district's director of communications, family, and community engagement, declined to comment and referred to the prepared statement provided by Teitelbaum above.