14 DAY TRIAL // A school in California has decided that wearing leggings in lieu of pants is not appropriate in class, banning the item of clothing altogether.
Reporters at ABC News have caught up with the principal at Kenilworth Junior High in Petaluma, who explains that students should not view leggings as pants.
“Leggings have become popular among girls and many are sheer. [...] When girls bend in leggings the threads spread and that’s really when it becomes a problem,” Emily Dunnagan says.
450 female students were gathered in a meeting last week as the principal discussed the issue of the leggings, which was not covered in the school dress policy until then.
“Our dress code is vague because as styles change the dress code needs to change. [...] No undergarments are to be shown in public, […] bicycle shorts may be worn under another garment,” Dunnagan lists.
Problems associated with wearing leggings, which school officials dub distracting, can be corrected by wearing a skirt or a dress on top of them.
“This was a whole staff decision of everyone just wanting to make the school a distraction-free zone and allow kids to be kids. […] Part of becoming a teenager is expressing your individuality but we need to do that in a distraction-free way,” the principal adds.
She also describes that their aim is not to suspend students once they've strayed from the dress code, but to keep them in class.
A high-school in Rockville, Maryland had a similar issue last week, sending home one student refusing to wear a long shirt or sweater over her leggings.
Freshman Laura Woche was wearing a short top over hers and, while given the option of wearing something else on top, is protesting the school policy. Woche was sent home for the day, but her mother took her out of class for the rest of the week.
“My friends that go to other schools, they wear whatever they want every day. I feel like it's still a little unfair that we have such a strict rule,” Woche argues, according to WTOP.