A Texas school district apologized after a high school administrator said girls’ clothes caused boys’ bad grades.
Phil Morgante, an assistant principal at Clements High School in Sugar Land, Texas, reportedly made the comments while discussing the school’s dress code at an assembly on Aug. 24. A recording of Morgante’s comments were uploaded to theodysseyonline.com, a student-focused media startup, last week.
“Ladies, I know you’ve been working on your abs since the Olympics. But your shirts can’t be up here. It’s gotta cover the whole gut, OK? So, cover up…Ladies, I still blame you all for boys’ low grades because of tight clothing.” Morgante said, according to the recording published online.
After Clements students and parents criticized the comments as “sexist,” the Fort Bend Independent School District, which houses Clements, told ABC 13 on Thursday in a statement that the school was working to address Morgante’s comments, which the school district characterized as “a failed attempt at humor and inappropriate.”
Morgante did not immediately respond to Motto’s request for comment.
[ABC 13]
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Write to Samantha Cooney at samantha.cooney@time.com