The issue of school dress codes is back in the spotlight in New Brunswick after a 10-year-old girl was sent home over a shirt deemed too loose-fitting.

On Wednesday, 10-year-old Khenady Barton was stopped in the hallway by her teacher at Hampton Elementary in Hampton, N.B.

"And she said, ‘My principal and I just called your mom,’ and I said, ‘Why?’ because I didn't know what I did or anything, and she said, because of that shirt. And I'm like, ‘Oh’," recalled young Khenady.

Her mother, Natasha Barton, had indeed received a phone call, and the conversation that followed has her now at odds with school authorities.

"(They said) that they hated to call me at work, but Khenady was dressed, my daughter was dressed inappropriately for school. And I was floored,” Natasha said.

“My first reaction was shock. And I thought, ‘Did she change her clothes when she went to school?’ because the outfit that I saw on her that morning was fine,” she said.

It turns out the outfit she left the house with was the same one her teacher had a problem with, but the problem only occurs at lunch or recess when Khenady is playing outside.

“She said, ‘It's not that, but when she's skipping, playing skip rope, her shirt lifts up a little bit’, because it's not tight fitting, it's loose fitting, and you could see a glimpse of her mid-section,” Natasha said.

The family took to Facebook, garnering dozens of responses.

Many of the comments are similar to this one: "Shaming girls is not the way to fix this. … The reasoning behind the decisions they are making is so, so wrong. The only lesson learned is that a young girl is now embarrassed of her body.”

Natasha says she has some sympathy for school officials trying to enforce dress codes as the issue becomes increasingly controversial, but says school districts need to review the dress codes themselves.

She says she also takes issue with the way students and their parents are notified of problems.

"There should be a proper attire at school, I absolutely agree with that,” she said.

“What I'm upset about is that A) my 10-year-old daughter was not dressed inappropriately for school in my opinion and B) they told her and they told her on several occasions. So the whole time they've been telling her, it's brought down her self-esteem.”

CTV News contacted the Anglophone South School District for comment, but officials have yet to respond.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron