Act of compassion violates school dress code policy

Maya Rodriguez, KUSA12:31 a.m. EDT March 25, 2014

What started out as a kind gesture is turning into a battle over whether hair, or the lack of it, should matter in school.

KUSA - It was meant as a gesture of solidarity: a girl in Grand Junction shaved her head to support her friend, who is battling cancer. However, family members say the girl's school didn't see it that way and said it violated the dress code policy. Now, what started as a simple gesture is turning into a battle over whether hair should matter in school.

For the two girls on the playground, though, Monday afternoon was all about sharing fun in the sun and sporting matching bald heads.

"It felt like the right thing to do," Kamryn Renfro said.

With her parents' permission, Kamryn shaved her head in support of her cancer-stricken friend, 11-year-old Delaney Clements. She lost her hair because she is undergoing chemotherapy in her fight against neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer.

Delaney loved what her friend did.

"It made me feel very special and that I'm not alone," she said.

However, when Kamryn tried to go back to school at Caprock Academy in Grand Junction this week, she wasn't allowed in. Turns out, having a shaved head is a violation of the school's dress code policy. Delaney's mom, Wendy Campbell, couldn't believe it.

"I didn't realize that hair was such an important aspect of a child at school," Campbell said.

FULL STORY: http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2014/03/24/act-of-compassion-...