The principal did say, however, that PE day at the school was “becoming more of a fashion show”.
The principal of Presentation College in Carlow has denied claims that female students at the school were asked not to wear tight leggings to PE classes.
The principal did admit, however, that female students were spoken to about uniform regulations at the school as PE Day was “becoming more of a fashion show” than anything else.
Principal Ray Murray spoke to Morning Ireland on Wednesday after it was reported that female students at the school were told not to wear tight leggings to PE classes as it was proving “distracting” to teachers and made them “uncomfortable”.
According to The Carlow Nationalist, talks took place with female students in all year groups about the clothes they wear at the school, while there was no discussion with male students.
The Carlow Nationalist reported that students felt “degraded, paranoid, violated, disgusted and unsafe” as a result of the situation, while many parents of children at the school also expressed their anger at the treatment of female students.
A petition hitting out at the alleged sexism against female students in the school by staff and students has, at the time of writing, been signed by 9,150 people.
Speaking on Wednesday morning, Murray denied that female students were asked not to wear tight leggings to school and hit out at what he described as “scandalous comments” on social media, which he said were damaging to staff.
“If a wrong message came through, obviously we do not want that to happen and I have an open-door policy for talking to the kids,” Murray said.
Murray said that female students were spoken to at the school, and not male students, because “the issue was primarily with girls”.
Murray said that he and other members of staff had noticed that on PE days, where students are permitted to wear PE gear, that some students, particularly female students, were not following uniform regulations and that female students were wearing “a variety of garments, particularly leggings”.
Commenting on the nature of the discussions with female students, Murray said they were reminded of the uniform regulations in the school and that nothing “inappropriate”, “wrong” or “uncomfortable” was said.
“We have female deans of discipline who are mothers themselves,” he added.
“Many of them have daughters who were talking to girls and I know that there was nothing inappropriate, wrong, uncomfortable, that was said to them.”
Main image via Twitter/@Pres_Carlow
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