FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas - An assistant principal in Sugar Land is under fire after he made what some are calling a tasteless joke at the expense of female students.
While some students think it was sexist, others say Clements High School Assistant Principal Phil Morgante was just trying to be funny.
"At first he was like 'Ladies you can't wear crop tops,'" said Nazakat Jilani, but it didn't make her budge. The next comment from Morgante did. "He said 'Ladies, be careful with your tight shirts because guys have it hard enough to study.' That's when I started laughing. I said 'This is a joke right?'"
Jilani found out it was no joke and that Morgante had been saying it all day long to a series of assemblies at the high school when he was going over what students could wear and what they couldn't wear.
Fort Bend ISD confirmed he made inappropriate comments during an assembly last week.
"I was very pissed off," Jilani said. "I was very mad. I even went and told my parents about it."
The remarks took on a life of their own on social media.
Fort Bend ISD told KHOU 11 News Thursday night the comments should never have been made and that the comments were a failed attempt at humor.
Jilani believes he should apologize to the whole school while others believe the comments are being blown out of proportion.
"This is very bad for him because this is not something worthy of this," said Jack Whitley, a sophomore at Clements. "This is not worthy of putting someone's job on the line."
Whitley says Morgante is dedicated to the student body.
"Regardless of whether they're male or female, regardless of race, ethnicity, color, gender anything, he's been there for them," said Whitley.
The district says the assistant principal of Clements did apologize but Jilani wants to hear it from Morgante himself.
"I don't think he should lose his job at all," Jilani said. "I really do like Mr. Morgante as a principal. He's a great educator, he just made a mistake."
KHOU 11 News learned someone did record audio inside the assembly and shared it online, but we were unable to verify where the footage came from.
The district says the situation is being addressed and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.
