In the past few months, schools have banned everything from yoga pants and Ugg boots to birthday candles and peanut butter sandwiches. But one Utah middle school is cracking down on hair color—even if the color in question isn't a garish blue or green but just a dark shade of red.
After being kicked out of class last week for dyeing her brown hair auburn, an honors student at a Utah middle school has been allowed to return to school—but only after she toned down her hair color.
Though Rylee MacKay, 15, had been dyeing her hair the same shade every six weeks since September, it wasn't until earlier this month that the school took issue with the color. On Feb. 4, Hurricane Middle School vice principal Jan Goodwin spotted Rylee in the halls and ordered her into the office. She had just had her hair touched up two days earlier.
The Washington County School District dress code states that "Hair, including beards, mustaches and sideburns, should be groomed so that it is neat and clean. Hair color must be a naturally occurring color; i.e. red, brown, black, blonde." And while Rylee's stylist had assured her that her new color complied with the dress code, Goodwin felt that Rylee's auburn-hued hair didn't look natural enough.
"In the light he said it was pinkish-purplish," Rylee told KUTV. "He told me to have it fixed by the next day or I couldn't come back to school."
But she didn't want to dye her hair back to brown—and her mother refused to make her.
"I absolutely am not going to dye it brown. That is not an option," Amy MacKay told Utah news station KSL.com on Sunday. Rylee had a hard time with the family's move to Hurricane two and a half years ago, MacKay said, and when she was finally allowed to dye her hair last year she felt better about herself. "My daughter feels beautiful with the red hair. Changing her hair really changed her; she really blossomed," she explained. "And now I have to say, 'No, sorry, you have to dye it brown?' I'm not going to change it back."
MacKay said that the district's hair policy is too open to interpretation. "It's totally his opinion whether it's too bright or not," she told KSL.com. "There's no set standard, no hair palette you can look at and say, 'OK, I'll go with that red'."
After being kicked out of class last week for dyeing her brown hair auburn, an honors student at a Utah middle school has been allowed to return to school—but only after she toned down her hair color.
Though Rylee MacKay, 15, had been dyeing her hair the same shade every six weeks since September, it wasn't until earlier this month that the school took issue with the color. On Feb. 4, Hurricane Middle School vice principal Jan Goodwin spotted Rylee in the halls and ordered her into the office. She had just had her hair touched up two days earlier.
The Washington County School District dress code states that "Hair, including beards, mustaches and sideburns, should be groomed so that it is neat and clean. Hair color must be a naturally occurring color; i.e. red, brown, black, blonde." And while Rylee's stylist had assured her that her new color complied with the dress code, Goodwin felt that Rylee's auburn-hued hair didn't look natural enough.
But she didn't want to dye her hair back to brown—and her mother refused to make her.
"I absolutely am not going to dye it brown. That is not an option," Amy MacKay told Utah news station KSL.com on Sunday. Rylee had a hard time with the family's move to Hurricane two and a half years ago, MacKay said, and when she was finally allowed to dye her hair last year she felt better about herself. "My daughter feels beautiful with the red hair. Changing her hair really changed her; she really blossomed," she explained. "And now I have to say, 'No, sorry, you have to dye it brown?' I'm not going to change it back."
MacKay said that the district's hair policy is too open to interpretation. "It's totally his opinion whether it's too bright or not," she told KSL.com. "There's no set standard, no hair palette you can look at and say, 'OK, I'll go with that red'."
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