An African-American girl from Orlando, Fla. is facing expulsion from school for wearing her hair natural, WKMG Local 6 reports, school administrators claiming that her long, puffy hair style is creating a distraction.
Although 12-year-old Vanessa VanDyke has been wearing her hair natural since the beginning of the year, it wasn't until she and her family met with school administrators of Faith Christian Academy to complain about the teasing from classmates that her hair became a subject of controversy.
School officials are citing the student handbook's rules and regulations, arguing that VanDyke's hair is "too puffy" and that students are required to wear their hair "a natural color [which] must not be a distraction." Examples of distracting styles include mohawks, shaved designs and rat tails, none of which VanDyke has.
"A distraction to one person is not a distraction to another," VanDyke's mother, Sabrina Kent, told WKMG Local 6. "You can have a kid come in with pimples on his face. Are you going to call that a distraction? There have been bullies in the school. There have been people teasing her about her hair, and it seems to me that they're blaming her."
VanDyke, who is a violinist and honor student at Faith Christian Academy, has been warned she has one week to cut and shape her hair or she will face expulsion. The 12-year-old student, however, is insistent on keeping her hair the way it is.
"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," she told the local news station. "It says that I'm unique. 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 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."
Click here to see a video report on Vanessa VanDyke and her school's controversial decision regarding her natural hair style.
