(KDVR) A 9-year-old girl who was banned from her Colorado school for shaving her head to support a friend with cancer was back in class Tuesday after reports of the disciplinary action surfaced.
A staff member from Caprock Academy in Grand Junction told FoxNews.com that the school is happy to have the student back and its board of directors is holding a closed meeting later tonight about the situation.
KDVR.com reported that school officials told the student, Kamryn, she couldn’t come back to class without a wig or until her natural hair grew back because her shaved head violates the school’s dress code.
With her parents’ approval, Kamryn shaved her head in support of her friend, 11-year-old Delaney, who is battling neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer, and recently started chemotherapy.
“It felt like the right thing to do,” Kamryn told 9News.com.
Delaney’s mom, Wendy Campbell, told the station she was surprised Caprock Academy refused to let Kamryn in Monday because of the dress code.
“I didn’t realize that hair was such an important aspect of a child at school,” Campbell said. “For a little girl to be really brave and want to shave her head in support of her friend, I thought that was a huge statement and it builds character in a child,”
In a statement to 9News.com, Catherine Norton Breman, president and Chair of the academy’s board of directors, said the dress code “was created to promote safety, uniformity, and a non-distracting environment for the school’s students. Under this policy, shaved heads are not permitted.”
Delaney said she was happy to have her friend’s support.
“It makes me sad because she was really happy to go back to school and show people what she did, but now that she didn’t get to, she’s kind of sad,” Delaney told 9News.com.
The school’s board of directors will meet Tuesday night to discuss this situation and the policy. A staff member from the school told FoxNews.com that the school is happy to have the student back.