An Ohio middle school is being criticized after it decided to remove the word 'feminist' from a T-shirt an eighth grade girl wore in her class photo. Sophie Thomas wore the black shirt in March when she was having her picture taken at Clermont Northeastern Middle School in Batavia. When the students got their class photos this week, she saw the word had been removed from her shirt with Photoshop. Sophie Thomas (center) wore a shirt with the word 'feminist' on it for class photo day at her middle school . Administrators at Clermont Northeastern Middle School in Batavia, Ohio, had word removed from her shirt . Thomas had worn the shirt to school in the past without any problems, FOX19 NOW reported. School principal Kendra Young said the word was removed to 'prevent any unintended controversies'. Thomas, an eighth grader at the school, had worn the shirt in the past without having any problems . The school claimed it told Thomas the word was going to be removed from her shirt, but she said that is not the case, as does her mother, according to TODAY.com. Christine Thomas said her daughter only met with school officials after the doctored photo was released. Thomas said: 'I was upset. 'I went to the principal's office and she told me she blacked it out because it's offensive to some people.' Ralph Shell, the superintendent of the Clermont Northeastern School District, said the situation was 'blown out of proportion', BuzzFeed News reported. He added: 'We took the photo and she was in the front row with the T-shirt on, and it was just not a flattering picture.' On April 17, Thomas asked people to post photos using the #IDESERVEFREEDOMOFEXPRESSION hashtag . On Friday, April 17, Thomas asked people who found the school's decision distasteful to wear a shirt showing their support for feminism or freedom of expression and post photos with the hashtag #IDESERVEFREEDOMOFEXPRESSION. The photos were collected on Instagram. She said: 'People around here misconstrue the word [feminism].' 'Like, 'Oh, you're a feminist so you hate men.' 'I just want to spread equality, and a lot of people here don't agree with me.'
Sophie Thomas attends Clermont Northeastern Middle School in Batavia.
She wore a black shirt bearing word for school picture day back in March.
When students got photos this week, word was removed with Photoshop.
Administrators said they asked to remove word, a claim Thomas disputes.