The Florida school that threatened to expel a student for wearing her natural hair is now back tracking on their decision.
News broke that Vanessa VanDyke was facing getting expelled from her school after administrators told her that she had to cut her natural hair or straighten it.
Administrators at Faith Christian Academy have now asked Vanessa VanDyke to style her hair differently, according to WKMG.
Her mother told the press:
“African-American hair grows out. It doesn’t grow down,” mother Sabrina Kent told the local station in Orlando. ”Her hair is her hair. What am I supposed to do?”
Vanessa commented on her hairstyle saying:
“It says that I’m unique,” she 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.”
“I’m depressed about leaving my friends and people that I’ve known for a while, but I’d rather have that than the principals and administrators picking on me and saying that I should change my hair.”
The administration has responded in a statement:
“We are not asking her to put products in her hair or to cut her hair,” read a statement sent to the station. “We are asking her to style her hair within the guidelines according to the school handbook.”
The handbook says that styles such as mohawks, rat tails, and shaved signs are all part of “distracting” hair styles.
Her mother continued:
“A distraction to one person is not a distraction to another,” Kent said. “You can have a kid come in with pimples on his face. Are you going to call that a distraction?”
“I’m going to fight for my daughter,” Kent said. “If she wants her hair like that, she will keep her hair like that. There are people out there who may think that natural hair is not appropriate. She is beautiful the way she is.”
We agree!
What do you guys think of the school trying to change Vanessa from her natural hair style?
SOURCE: MSNBC
