Sherwood Baker was about to head inside his daughter's high school in Rochester, Michigan, to talk to a counselor about her class schedule when security stopped him at the entrance. Baker was told he couldn't enter. Why? He needed to go home and change his outfit before entering Rochester Adams High School.
Image source: WJBK-TV
You see, Baker is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and was in uniform that day — which apparently didn't conform to the dress code.
Image source: WJBK-TV
"The security guard told him that men and women in uniform weren't allowed because it may offend another student," Baker's wife Rachel Ferhadson told WJBK-TV in Detroit.
Image source: WJBK-TV
After others caught wind of Baker's about-face order, they were dumbfounded. "I can't believe they would even think like that after all they do for our country," one man told the station. "It's crazy." Berhadson said her husband, a 24-year veteran, served in Iraq and Afghanistan and has lived overseas in several countries.
Image source: WJBK-TV
"He's been kind and always asks me how my day is after I come home from school," Baker's daughter Kelly told WJBK. "It just makes me really happy that he cares."
Image source: WJBK-TV
After the district superintendent found out about the flap, Robert Shaner — also a veteran — apologized to Baker. Shaner sent a letter to WJBK, which reads in part, "the district has apologized for any perception that individuals in uniform are not welcome in the school. The district does not have a policy excluding individuals in uniform and will be working with administration and the firm that handles our security to make sure district policies are understood and communicated accurately." The Baker family scheduled a meeting with the high school's principal to continue to smooth things out, WJBK noted.
