A 13-year-old Fort Worth girl is protesting her school’s dress code after she was sent home Thursday for having pink highlights in her hair.
"I think it's kind of weird, because it's my hair, and I'm trying to express myself,” said Chyanna Stanton, a seventh-grader at Hillwood Middle School.
She said she wore the pink to remember her grandmother, who died of breast cancer, and to support her cousin, who was set to undergo surgery for the disease on Thursday.
But pink hair is a clear violation of the school’s dress code, said Shellie Johnson, a spokeswoman for Keller Independent School District. The school is located in Fort Worth but is part of the Keller district.
The school’s dress code does not specifically ban highlights in hair, but reads: “Any extreme in clothing, hair, cosmetics, jewelry or appearance that may disrupt the normal operations of the school will not be acceptable."
The teenager and her mother said they don’t believe pink highlights would interfere with the learning process.
"It's pink hair,” Stanton said. “It's not that big of a distraction."
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Her mother, LeAnne Obersig, said she supports her daughter’s decision.
"I don't think it makes her any less of a person with pink highlights,” the mother said. "I'm not going to change it. And if I have to, I'll suffer the consequences, I guess, of not sending her to school for the rest of the year."
The teenager said she is prepared to sit out of school the rest of the year.
"I personally think if they don't let me back in the school, it's sort of dumb,” she said.
