A student at Rockville High School was nearly sent home yesterday after school officials told her she was in violation of the Montgomery County Schools dress code. NBC4 reports that Laura Woche’s outfit of black leggings and a peach-colored sweater prompted a warning from the school’s principal:

“Girls should not be dressing provocatively in school because it, quote, distracts the boys, but that is not the case; this is not distracting,” her mother said. “This [outfit] is not inappropriate.”

Roche’s mom says the school gave Laura two choices: wear an oversized sweater or have her mom take her home.

The Rockville High School dress code reads in part, “Students should dress appropriately for a school setting and business environment. The staff wishes to promote a climate in which all students feel comfortable…”

The dress code prohibits leggings, but says nothing about the required lengths of shirts or sweaters.

But as for leggings, NBC4 heard from many viewers—including at least one teacher—who said that they are standard attire these days. The utility of leggings was also something of a minor Internet controversy last month after BuzzFeed devoted one of its photo lists to arguing why leggings are, in the viral content website’s estimable terms, “the worst.”

In response, Slate’s Amanda Hess defended leggings:

Leggings aren’t pants. No, they are not. And thank goodness! Pants are great if you’re a woman with the perfectly-calibrated corporate-sanctioned ratio of waist to ass to leg. What are you, a ringer for the jeans industry?

And this is what suburban Maryland school districts fight about in 2013.