Just minutes after school started on Monday, (June 13,) we received a call from the principal at Opstad Elementary to pick up our daughter immediately. Why? Because her hair was dyed fuchsia over the weekend.

She knew that Opstad didn’t allow for “unnatural” hair color but decided to do so anyway for the last week of school (when no real lessons are being taught anymore).  She didn’t think that the rule was fair since other elementary schools in the district allow it (while at North Bend Elementary for the previous four years, she had various unnatural colors in her hair without controversy).

I’ve read the student handbooks and Opstad is the only school in the district to completely forbid colored hair.  Only two other schools mention hair color and they just say it can’t be extreme.

The principal said her hair is a distraction to the learning environment. What really is distracting is the rule in the first place. We are not talking about a 12-inch green mohawk.  She was not welcome back until her hair is a “natural” color.

On Thursday, she went back with hair freshly painted black with colored hairspray from the party store.  Black is a “natural” hair color, after all.

Had this not been a rule, some kids wouldn’t have even paid attention to her, others would have said, “cool hair,” and then been over it. The rule created the distraction to the learning environment.  And don’t even get me started on Opstad’s rule that girls aren’t allowed to wear stretch pants!  Really? Come on! Why are there such different dress code standards within the same school district?

Hair color in no way detracts from the learning experience.  Stifling this harmless creative outlet of personality doesn’t make any sense.

Leslie Moon

North Bend