JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Duval County school board decided on Tuesday to suspend a teacher for controversial comments he made to students at Twin Lakes Academy.

According to district documents, seventh-grade teacher Patrick Foster made inappropriate comments to students about violating the dress code. In one statement Foster was quoted as saying, "Girls, if you wear short skirts and I can see your panties, I am going to tell you what color they are."

According to discipline documents, the inappropriate comments were not just directed at the girls. The investigation accuses him of telling male students that wearing pants low means in prison terms that "you are open for business," referring to male prison prostitution.

The school board voted to discipline Foster with a 10-day suspension without pay and by placing him in another school -- the harshest punishment short of firing a teacher.

Foster has had no disciplinary actions in the past, but the district said it felt he needed to be punished for the comments.

The vote for Foster's suspension was unanimous, but the choice was not without some discussion. Board members said Foster had been in a tough spot because many students blatantly disregard the dress code at school by wearing short skirts or pants that hang too low.

Some ideas that were also discussed at the meeting included better training for teachers and students about the dress code.

"This was far beyond any level of propriety. Actually, a 10-day suspension is not going to satisfy a lot of the people who want something more severe," said school board member Nancy Broner.

"It makes you wonder what his thought process was. Maybe he's frustrated. We got e-mails, calls, at least a few of them I did, and some of them applaud the teacher, and I understand that. They want to see students dressed well at school. I get that, and I get the fact that some think we shouldn't be penalizing the teacher for doing what they thought was right," said school board member Tommy Hazouri.

The district said it is now taking a look into how to fix the dress code issue at schools. One idea brought up at the meeting a couple times was to possibly implement a mandatory uniform code. No decision was made on that topic.