Utah Teen's Hair Color Gets Her Suspended From High School
A Utah teen's hair color caused the ninth grader to be suspended after the school felt her red hair was too distracting. Rylee MacKay was forced to wash her hair several times over the weekend in hopes that the color would be toned down enough to fit within guidelines of Hurricane High School.
Rylee McaKay's hair color, originally brown, was turned into a bright red, but well within the high schools' guidelines, according to the girl's mother, Amy McKay. Unfortunately, it would not be enough to keep her daughter out of trouble.
"We talked to the hairdresser about the school rules and told her it had to stay in the natural color spectrum of red," Amy MacKay told KSL News. "At the time, the color of hair Rylee wanted, the hairdresser and I both felt maybe it was too red, a little too bright, and we made her tone it down."
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Although the teen had been getting her hair dyed the same shade since last September, when Principal Roy Hoyt saw her outside, he claimed her hair looked "pink and purple" in the sunlight. MacKay was promptly sent home and suspended-she was given until the next Monday to fix her dyed locks. The teen didn't do much to her hair, however.
"All she did was wash her hair every day, like she always would," Amy MacKay said.
Though school administrators admitted that her hair seemed toned down after washing it, the 15-year-old's mother feels that the school's policy needs to be addressed.
"There is absolutely ambiguity there that needs to be addressed," she told KSL News. "And they didn't tell her not to dye it again … what's going to happen six weeks from now? We don't know what's going to happen moving forward."
The guideline is based on to the principal's opinion, the mother said, claiming that public opinion is on her side.
"I would say 98 percent of the people thought it was outrageous that she got kicked out of school. These people are supposed to represent us … and now they're not listening to us," MacKay said.
