In our view: Suspension no answer w/ link to original story and comments

In case school administrators are wondering why kids are dropping out of school, here’s a good example.

This week, a Mountain Grove (Mo.) Middle School student was suspended because she had dyed her hair pink. Amelia Robbins said she dyed her hair pink to honor her father, who died of cancer when she was 6 years old.

According to an Associated Press story, the 12-year-old said that when she finished sixth grade with pink streaks in her hair, school administrators warned her not to continue wearing the color. But with her mother’s permission, Amelia dyed all of her hair pink, and now she’s been suspended just at the school year has started.

The school handbook says administrators have the authority to decide whether a student is causing a distraction. Officials declined to discuss specifics of Amelia’s case.

There certainly should have been a better way to deal with a girl who obviously misses her father and wants in her own way to honor him. We believe suspension, in this case, was not the answer.

So, how would the new Joplin R-8 Superintendent C.J. Huff handle this type of situation?

Huff said he wouldn’t comment on how Mountain Grove administrators made their decision, nor did he feel like it was his place.

But, like Mountain Grove, Joplin R-8 School District has a policy prohibiting clothing or hair that could be deemed a distraction.

Huff said if he believed the student’s actions were triggered by her grief, he would try to address the grief and suggest other options that would provide a better way for her to express the loss of her father.

There comes a time when policies and handbooks don’t address all problems. That’s when administrators have to reach out to the individual student.

Student suspensions should be used as a last resort. When school districts become disenfranchised, it serves as just one more excuse for the student to do the same.