Girl sent home from school for dreadlocks
A Tulsa, Oklahoma school is under fire for sending a 7-year-old home for her natural hairstyle. Deborah Brown Community School is being criticized for dismissing little Tiana Parker from school for her dreadlocked hair. Fox 23 who interviewed Tiana and her father Terrance Parker first reported the news.
According to Parker, he felt forced to withdraw his daughter from the charter school because of the disagreement about her coiffure.
Parker, who is a barber, said school officials at Deborah Brown told him Tiana’s hair didn’t look presentable. Tiana’s locs, were short, neatly styled and fashioned into a ponytail with a bow.
“She’s always presentable. I take pride in my kids looking nice,” he told Fox 23.
Deborah Brown Community School’s handbook states that “hairstyles such as dreadlocks, afros, mohawks, and other faddish styles are unacceptable” because school officials believe they might cause distractions.
According to Parker however, his daughter attended the school last year, with the same hairstyle and was not reprimanded.
Fox23 recently interviewed a distraught Tiana who cried on camera about the ordeal.
“They didn’t like my dreads,” said the child between tears.
Check out a video of Tiana and her “distracting” natural hair below. Did the school have a right to send her home? -danielle canada
