Several Tonganoxie High School senior girls donned matching T-shirts Monday during school. But the tongue-in-cheek message didn’t sit well with administrators.

Shannon Carlin, a senior who wore the shirt, said the front of the shirt read: “Senior women 2008.” The back read, “It feels good to be on top.”

Carlin said she wasn’t certain who started the drive for the T-shirts in the senior class, but the senior girls paid $8 apiece for the shirts, which were supposed to signify “we’re all seniors and just want to have fun.”

But the school staff were not amused.

Carlin said THS Principal Jamie Carlisle called a special assembly for the senior girls to discuss the situation.

Many of the students wearing the shirt turned them inside out or wore something over them, Carlin said.

“If you turned your shirt inside out, he would thank you for it,” Carlin said. “I think turning them inside out wasn’t too much to ask. I didn’t think it was a big deal. The whole thing’s not really all that big of a deal.”

And Carlin said the shirt wasn’t intended to cause harm, but rather to have a humorous message. The shirts became popular because others were purchasing them, she said.

Carlin said some of the 30 to 40 students who wore the shirts Monday approached Carlisle later in the day to apologize – and some seniors planned to bake cookies and brownies for him.

Senior Tracie Hileman was not in school Monday because of illness, but said the shirt could be taken as “Top of the class.”

“Large and in charge,” Hileman said.

Carlisle declined to comment, citing student privacy issues.