Christian School Tells African-American Girl To Straighten Her Hair Or Get Out
VanDyke, a 12-year-old 7th grader complained about being bullied, but the Orlando school blamed the victim.
Administrators told the girl that she had one week to choose between cutting and straightening her hair or leaving the school that she has attended since 3rd grade.
The pre-teen told Channel 6 that she’s proud of her hair.
“It says that I’m unique,” VanDyke said. “First of all, it’s puffy and I like it that way. I know people will tease me about it because it’s not straight. I don’t fit in.”
School officials have apparently decided that the little girl’s hair poses a danger to the learning process.
…Faith Christian Academy has a dress code and rules against how students can wear their hair. The student handbook reads: “Hair must be a natural color and must not be a distraction,” and goes on to state examples that include, but are not limited to, mohawks, shaved designs and rat tails.
“A distraction to one person is not a distraction to another,” said VanDyke’s mother, Sabrina Kent. “You can have a kid come in with pimples on his face. Are you going to call that a distraction?”
