The Battle Over a Teens Pink Mohawk A Michigan high school student says he’s been forced to leave his track team simply because of his hair. Mike Barker, a 17-year-old junior at West Iron County High School, recently styled his hair into a bright pink Mohawk to support his mother, who is battling breast cancer. When authorities allegedly told him to choose between his hair, which violated school policy, and the team, Barker says, “I picked family. He explains that he decided last week to fulfill his promise to his mom to dye his Mohawk — which he’s allegedly had for weeks without consequence — to honor not only his mom’s cancer struggle, but also the struggles of two aunts, one of whom died two years ago. The student says that when various school officials, including his track coach, told him on Thursday that he needed to shave it off or leave the team, he chose the latter. Since then, Barker’s story has blown up on social media, prompting a Facebook support page with almost 2,300 in his corner. He tells Yahoo Shine he’s meeting with school officials on Monday afternoon to discuss the situation further. Meanwhile, Superintendent Chris Thomson has provided Yahoo Shine with the following statement: “The West Iron County Public Schools supports the needs of the students to express themselves, as long as their expression does not interfere with the educational process ... The athletic department is going to work with the student and parents to resolve this issue. The student was not dismissed from the team and we welcome his participation in the future. The athletic department has long supported breast cancer awareness by participating in numerous events involving student athletes and staff held in October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month) and plan to continue to support this worthy cause.” Barker’s story comes less than a week after that of Kamryn Renfro, a Colorado 9-year-old who was kicked out of school for a day after shaving her head in support of her best friend, a cancer patient who is bald from chemotherapy treatments. The school relented after mounting pressure from the public, voting on Tuesday to waive the school dress-code policy, which it said Renfro’s baldness had violated. Other recent student-hair controversies have included that of Vanessa VanDyke, 12, who was told by her Florida private school to restyle her natural African American hair or be expelled; And a 7-year-old Oklahoma girl whose parents yanked her from her charter school after officials deemed her dreadlocks unacceptable.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 19:02:05 +0000
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