A Delaware middle school student claims she was sent home from school because of her hair.
Brianna Moore, 12, is a Sixth-grader at Shue-Medill Middle School in Newark. After making the honor roll, Brianna says she dyed her hair pink to celebrate her Math grade on her report card. There was little celebration from school officials when they noticed her hair last Thursday however. Her father Kevin Moore says they immediately called him and gave him three options.
“She could either sit in an alternative school room setting at the school, we could change her hair back to a normal color or we could transfer her to another school in the district,” said Moore.
Brianna says she had also dyed her hair last year at a different school to celebrate her good grades.
“It’s not even a distraction,” said Brianna. “It would only last for a day.”
Kevin quickly took action and called the American Civil Liberties Union.
“Federal courts have ruled around the country with other cases of kids with blue hair that the schools were wrong,” said Kevin.
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The Christina School District released the following statement to NBC10:
The student was never banned from school, but was told that her hair color was in violation of the school’s uniform dress code, and school officials were working to resolve the issue at the school level. The parent made the decision to remove the student from school.
The ACLU says the Supreme Court states students have a right to express themselves as long as there is no interference with school operations.
“We do not think that pink hair qualifies for interfering with school operations,” said Kathleen MacRae of the ACLU. “The other issue is the use of in school and out of school suspension as a first resort instead of a last resort.”
After staying home for several days, Brianna was allowed to return to the school on Tuesday.
“I think once the lawyers talked to each other then they understood that they needed to allow the student back into school," said MacRae.
The District says the two days Brianna missed will be considered excused absences.
