South Carolina principal backs off ‘leggings' comments

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. — A South Carolina high school principal said she did not intend to “hurt or offend” any students with comments she reportedly made during an assembly earlier this week, WCIV reported.

In a statement issued by the Berkeley County School District, Stratford High School Principal Heather Taylor said she has met with students to address a comment she made during a 10th-grade assembly on Tuesday, and to assure the students she is "one of their biggest fans and invested in their success.”

Taylor did not specify what she said during the assembly, but WCDB reported that she said girls "look fat" in leggings unless they are a size zero or 2. In a recording obtained by WCDB, a woman alleged to be Taylor tells students that leggings are not meant to be worn as pants alone, and that they "show everything" when worn that way.

“The sad thing is with that, ladies — if someone has not told you this before, I'm going to tell you this now — unless you are a size zero or a two, and you wear something like that, even though you are not fat, you look fat,” the woman said in the recording, WCIV reported.

“I’m not a size zero and I kind of felt targeted because of my size,” said Allison Veazey, a sophomore at Stratford.

Others posted angry replies on Facebook, WCIV reported.

"I hope your comment about the kids weight didn't push them over to committing unthinkable actions," Facebook user AJ Lorinchack said, according to WCIV. "You are responsible for all of the kids that go to your school. Due to your poor choice of words you may have instilled a lot of horrible things in the student community.”

“This is absolutely appalling. Shame on you for body shaming,” said Facebook user April Doane-Diaz, who claimed to be a Stratford graduate.

Other posters on Facebook came out in support of Taylor, WCIV reported.

"This is actually ridiculous," Carlos Hernandez said. “A bunch of Facebook moms with nothing better to do than to flame probably Stratford's best principal yet. … If you want to actually change something, go to the school board. This is just petty.”

Cox Media Group