Girl suspended for shaved head?

[Slash-LN]

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=9479250

Pretty much this 3rd grade girl was suspended for shaving her head.

Why did she do it?
Her best friend is battling a form of cancer and she did it to support her friend.

The school said it violates the dress code.

After public outcry the school decided to let the girl go back to school and says they are going to reevaluate their dress code and where exceptions can be made.

Should the girl have been suspended in the first place?

I do give credit to the school for recognizing that they need to reevaluate their dress code for instances like this.

I do wonder what the code actually says in this situation. I'm guessing it has something to do with hairstyles that could be distracting. I know one of my high schools had that in the dress code. I don't know though here if that's what their dress code states.

 

[Starkist]

Policy wise if it states to suspended the student, then yes suspended them. But seriously, why not do what would have happened when I was in school. A trip down to the principles office and a phone call to my parents. After that, mom or dad comes and there would be a meeting. Discuss the issue at hand and try to come to a solution. Thats how issues like this should be resolved.

If anything, props for the girl for showing such heart and love for her sick friend is amazing. What a sweetheart, and a true friend and I hope it boosts her sick friends morale.

If anything, they should have just sent the girl home for a day and not stated it as an actual suspension. Just her going home and to take a deeper look at the rules. Good on the school to not be so cold hearted and realizing a mistake. It is good to read that the school opened their eyes to realize it was done as an act of kindness and love and not to be a punk. It is not often you see or read of a sad story with a positive ending.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

A shaved head violates a dress code? That in itself makes zero sense (sorry kids with Alopecia, no school for you!) and is definitely one of the stupider rules I've seen schools have. With that said at least they recognized their mistake and are re-evaluating the situation, they screwed up sure but at least they are trying to right their wrong, in all fairness that's all you can ask from the school at this point.

The girl should have NEVER been banned from coming to school for shaving her head and its awesome that she is showing that kind of support for her friend, a lot of adults wouldn't do that let alone 3rd graders. I give her all the props in the world for shaving her head and hopefully its a good morale booster for her friend.

 

[Mustang Sally]

But seriously, why not do what would have happened when I was in school. A trip down to the principles office and a phone call to my parents. After that, mom or dad comes and there would be a meeting. Discuss the issue at hand and try to come to a solution.

I'm presuming you're recommending calling this meeting before having the student break the dress code; that's what I would do. Run it by the administration and see if they'll agree. In a case such as this, it might be effective to point out to the administration that they'd come off as bad guys if they deny the girl the right to support her sick friend, but one way or the other, at least the girl who wants to show support doesn't get suspended..... because she called the matter to the board's attention before breaking the code.

Then again, if the girl didn't know she was breaking the dress code.....since this incident is different from wearing forbidden clothing.....the administration could have warned her instead of issuing the suspension; ordering the girl to cover her head with a kerchief until her hair grows back.......and suspending her only if she refused to do this.

 

[Akhilleus]

What kind of dress code forbids the use of a shaved head? Don't boys have shaved heads all the time? So are little boys not allowed to have shaved heads? What if one actually does have cancer, do they break the dress code? It just seems to me like such a strange rule in the first place. How do they even suspend a third grade girl in the first place? Heck remembering back to my grade school days, we had fights and the maximum punishment they would get is lunch detention. I mean even remebering back to High School, girls would violate the dress code and the most they'd get is an in-school suspension for the day. How a dress code violation of any kind warrants an out of school suspension, one that would show up on a record and future college applications, is beyond me. Do they have no common sense? At that age kids don't know what's right and what's wrong, and punishing them like that for it is not the way to go.

Whether it was in the rules or not, I think the administration went about this situation the entirely wrong way from the start. They rebounded later by revoking the suspension and changing the rules, but how there wasn't any understanding, patience, or empathy shown by the staff is what makes me shake my head about the whole matter.

Besides shaving heads in support of cancer patients isn't exactly an unpopular action. It's been happening for years, and how they weren't able to piece together why some little girl decided to shave her head baffles me. What, did they think she was joining some white supremacist group or something?

 

[HBsam31]

My my the troubles I am going to have when my 2 year old daughter ready for kindergarten. A shaved head a violation of a dress code? That seems very odd to me, and it seems like the slightest infraction at school is met with suspension in schools these days. Even at very young ages it seems the first move is to suspend. This could have been let go with a warning given the circumstances. Imagine how heartbroken the cancer stricken girl must be knowing her friend who was supporting her got suspended for it. At least the school is re evaluating the suspension, and I hope for all involved that he suspension is reversed. What a sweet sweet girl shaving her head to support her friends. My heart goes out to both little girls.

 

[ABMorales787]

When you sign up for a private school, you are given a list of rules to adhere to and have to follow. It also stipulates the consequences for breaking said rules. Suspensions, marks on your permanent record, etc. The parent signs off on this acknowledging that they've read them, understand them and will make sure their children will follow them.

With that in mind, it was stupid of this child's parent for not asking the school if said special consideration could be made. The school is clearly flexible as they showed by letting the girl back in. At the same time they did nothing wrong by enforcing their rules. Rules the parents of the child acknowledged. Yes, what the girl did was a nice gesture. That can't be contested. But doing in spite the school's rules without asking wasn't the way to go.

And yes indeed, there are schools that prohibit certain types of haircuts. There always have been.

 

[Mustang Sally]

When you sign up for a private school, you are given a list of rules to adhere to and have to follow.

That's the point. For the folks who are saying the rule in effect was a stupid one......okay, maybe it is, but as long as the rule is in existence, it has to be followed......or you take the chance of being disciplined. If a person (or group of people) consider a rule to be a bad one, they can take steps to meet with the administrators and change it; don't look to change it only after an alleged offense has occurred and you're trying to get out of being punished for it. Sure, you might not have protested a rule for being stupid because no incident that arose involved it, but once it does, you need to go through the proper channels

Either way, history is replete with folks who decided to disobey a rule because they didn't agree with it. In school, maybe the student protesting the rule was eventually exonerated because the rule was proven "stupid"..... but there's also an excellent chance that the kid was punished because the rule existed.....and broken.....so, he wound up paying the price.

Defying a rule that you've decided is invalid is something that might be cheered by your fellow students.....but is seen as anarchy by the administration.

Roll the dice, if you want.....but don't cry if they decide to stick to their rulebook.

 

[One Punch Doug Crashin]

WHO CARES!!!!!! The girl wanted to shave her head for her friend. It should be CELEBRATED.... Not Punished by suspension. You know what that tells her? That helping people is wrong and that you must follow the rules regardless of your, OR YOUR FRIENDS SITUATION! "Merica FUCK YEA!

 

[LSN80]

WHO CARES!!!!!! The girl wanted to shave her head for her friend. It should be CELEBRATED.... Not Punished by suspension.

Rules are in place for a reason. Yes, this is an innocent case of general care and support for friend, but this is also the case of someone arbitrarily deciding the rules don't apply to them.

Schools create rules for a reason, the government does as well. We can find numerous reason to justify a violation of them, but we also need to prepare to face punishment should we violate.

You know what that tells her? That helping people is wrong and that you must follow the rules regardless of your, OR YOUR FRIENDS SITUATION!

No, it doesn't, get off your libertarian podium and join the real world for a moment, could you Doug? In such a case as this, it would be explained to the girl and her parents that while the intention was good, violating a rule without permission isn't excusable.

And if you bothered to read the article, you would see that the school allowed the girl to return to school, and the school board even decided that it will look at the dress code for specific places where exceptions to it can be made.

I'm not saying I wouldn't have done the exact same thing had this not been my best friend. I probably would have. But, I would also need to be prepared to face consequence for doing so. That's the way any logical society functions, and needs to so as to remain stable.

"Merica FUCK YEA!

The school suspended the girl for a dress code violation, overturned the suspension, and said it would look into making changes to its dress codes to allow exceptions. Clearly, that's "Merica" at it's worst.