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Filed under: In The News, Tween Culture
Turns out parents best not encourage their kid to express herself with hair color -- or at least they need to read the school handbook before heading to the salon with their tween or teen.
When Stephanie Plato showed up to school with the cool new hair color her mom got her as a present for her 12th birthday, it cost her two days of school, according to ABC affiliate KTRK.com.
The Texas sixth-grader's cool new "do" of red and blonde highlights streaked through her naturally light brown hair earned her an in-school suspension.
"I was shocked," Stephanie's mother Jessica Leyer tells KTRK. "They said she had to go to ISS (in-school suspension) or she had to go home, so I took her home because I didn't want her to sit in ISS for her hair color."
Officials at Cobb Elementary in the Channelview, Texas school district say the red highlights violated the student code of conduct. But Stephanie's mom says she never intended to violate the rules.
"I think it is bright, and it is brighter than we intended," Leyer tells KTRK. "But, I don't think it is a distraction or that kids won't be able to sit and concentrate in class because of her hair."
Meanwhile, sixth-grader Plato says the red and blonde streaks were a big hit with her classmates.
"They said they liked it and it was cute," the student tells KTRK. She adds that she wanted the hair streaks for her birthday "because they're cool."
But cute came with a cost. Plato was not allowed back into school until her hair was once again streakless. She had to color it a dark brown to hide the red and blonde, says her mom.
This is not the first time hair coloring caused a stir at school.
Last August, four San Antonio high school students, including honor student Damaris Duarte, received in-school suspensions for hair color, according to WOAI.com.
"There's a girl in my first period who has pink hair and I don't think it's fair I have to change it when I've had it the same way for four years and she has bright pink hair and she gets to keep it," Damaris tells WOIA.
As for Stephanie Plato and her mom Jessica Leyer, they have been schooled when it comes to hair styles. "Read the handbook," Leyer tellsKTRK.
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ReaderComments (Page 3 of 14)
2-17-2011 @ 2:38PM
JEREMY said...Better to have no children at all than to see them have to grow up in an oversensitive society like this one.
I would suggest to the mother she should take the first opp to move out of Texas as soon as possible.
We lost the greatest president we ever had in TEXAS.
The worst president this nation ever had came from TEXAS.
This is why
I'll make it a point not to EVER go to that state, for ANY reason .
Reply
2-17-2011 @ 3:22PM
tizziew said...In Texas, we are about less goverment intervention. Maybe this is just one wacky administrator. It's not like we go around trying to dictate what to eat and what to think. By the way, thanks for those cool green light blubs. You northen libs must just love the arsenic and lead!!!!!!
2-17-2011 @ 4:09PM
Ladyjoker7413123 said...You are being ridiculous. Texas is a beautiful state. Just because you disagree with certain individual who happen to be from Texas doesn't mean that the whole state is bad. I'm sure the place your from isn't paradise either. There are plenty of school districts in Texas that allow hair coloration and piercings, it just depends on the school-boards values. People on the school just board tend to be on the older side.
2-17-2011 @ 3:58PM
Joan Hritz said...BRAVO, Jeremy!
2-17-2011 @ 4:24PM
teresa said...jeremy, you're an idiot. Bush wasn't the worst, kennedy wasn't the best and just because he was killed in TX doesn't make texas a bad place. YOU shouldn't have kids, you're right about that. Are you a racist that hates all of one kind of people because one of them may have done something bad? Are all Floridians child killers just because they've been in the news a lot for child homocide cases? NO! of course not. Do you see the problem with your mentality?
2-17-2011 @ 4:49PM
Kenny said...You are so right...Lyndon Johnson SUCKED!
2-17-2011 @ 2:39PM
Lora said...Sounds like the schools policies might need an update. Too many schools are punishing kids for long outdated policies that just doesn't make sense anymore. I'd rather see a kid with streaks in her hair than the idiot guys walking around with their pants dropped down to their hips. I thought the highlightes were cute and when - not if - a kid wants to experiment with their looks a bit, it's better for the parent and kid to meet in the middle so each has a bit of a say in the final results. I wish the girl could have kept her hair that way. It would have grown/washed out within a few months anyway. But education is very important and until the school policies are changed, there will never really be a winner in the battle of freedom of expression over attending school.
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2-17-2011 @ 2:46PM
EgK said......but it's not about whether of not she likes it, or think's it okay, it's what the school rules are. If the rule about hair was established a head of time, and you broke it, there's really nothing you can do, whether if was intentional or not. When you choose to send your child to a school, you are accepting the rules of that school, and if you break them, when you have to deal with the consequences. It doesn't matter if you agree with the rules or not, you still have t follow them. If you don't like the rules, then send your kid to another school.
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2-17-2011 @ 5:29PM
skyy70 said...My understanding was that the hair color couldn't be a distraction to the learning process. Her streaks were so mild, I can't really see them being a distraction in the classroom. Maybe something to oooh and ahhhh over at lunch, but that's about it. In today's world, some streaks are not a noticable distraction.
2-17-2011 @ 2:39PM
Bling-Bling Williams said...This little girls hair is nothing compared to some of those freaks out there!
Reply
2-17-2011 @ 3:09PM
tim317 said...Ok since there was rule against this, I guess she should have followed the rules. I have another suggestion uniforms.
This is school they are there to learn not have a fashion show, Kids are distracted in to many ways lets minimize the distractions and start teaching. Also many work locations have a dress and code of conduct clause when you are hired. If it's a rule then they should follow it or get the rule changed. not whine about it on AOL.
2-17-2011 @ 3:54PM
Bling-Bling Williams said...These complaints can go in any direction. My grand-daughter is a 5th grade teacher & she's in the middle of all these 4,5,6 grade girls look wanting to experience how the big girls. I can go into a restruant & I'm greeted by a server with spiked-mohawk hair & color on each tip. He seats us & then here comes the waitress with 2 rings hanging off her lips,nose charm,tongue ring that helps her to talk funny. Come on, this little girl wants to be cute, too. You can't have rules for some & not for others.
2-17-2011 @ 10:55PM
Pamela said...to Bling-Bling Williams -- I would not go to a restaurant where the help looked like that.
2-17-2011 @ 2:40PM
jenn said...My 15 year old son was suspended for almost two weeks for having his lip pierced. It was a birthday present we figured as long as he covered it up it would be ok but that wasnt enough for the school.
I know that other kids have belly buttons pierced and tattoos but thats ok as long as thier covered up. I tried to fight the scholl but settled on clear plugs during school hours but truthfully the gaping hole in his lip is more noticable than the silver stud. They are kids this is supposed to be the time to express themselves to learn who they really are. What kind of message are we sending are kids when we tell them it's not ok to be who they are?
Reply
2-18-2011 @ 12:48AM
Carol D. said...Jen...are you serious? What does piercing your lip have to do with expressing yourself? Seriously people, lets have the kids learn to express themselves by putting together a grammatically correct sentence, drawing in art class, playing a musical instrument, or coming up with a way to apply a mathematical caluclation...or perhaps in drama class. Changing your physical appearance is the lazy man (or woman's) way to "express" oneself...it's phony and superficial. It's not "expression"...at all.
2-17-2011 @ 2:39PM
Leeyann said...People in Egypt are risking their lives every day for freedom, and this poor girl can't dye her hair in America? I think we have to review our priorities here. I think she looks cute!!!!
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2-17-2011 @ 2:41PM
stephanie said...Is there any "rules" in the schools conduct/dress code...if not then there is a problem. If so, then due to violation inschool suspension isn't all that bad. Personally I don't think it is appropriate for a 12 yr old, but then again like so many others think...it could be worse and I have seen worse..in the way boys and girls dress and the parents allow it because they won't stand up to a child. There lies part of the problem. When did parents stop being parents.
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2-17-2011 @ 2:41PM
antcmanche said...If my child went to this school in Channelview I would demand that any and all school staff not be allowed to dye, color, streak or alter their hair in any way except what is considered "natural" until the school's unacceptable "dress code" concerning hair be changed. What is expected of the children must also be expected of the adults. Little Stephanie's hair is nothing out of the ordinary and the same type of "streaking" and color is seen throughout our society. This entire thing is ridiculous and if she were my child I would fight it all the way.
For the person that made the snide comment about Texas; I point out that this is Channelview, a city in Texas and not the entire state. The majority of us Texans do not care in the least what people do with their own hair. We hold the firm belief that gov't, (in this case the public - government run - school district), needs to butt out of personal life choices unless it does harm to another, (non-consenting), adult individual.
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2-17-2011 @ 2:43PM
Vicki said...Even though she is young to start dying her hair, that was her choice to express herself as an individual, and to be different. Thank goodness we live in a country where we have the right to do that. Too bad this school does not encourage that.
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2-17-2011 @ 10:55PM
Pamela said...It was also her choice to disobey the rules of the school.