An Orlando area private school is earning a less-than picture perfect reputation for asking a student to change her hair style.
Monteverde Academy contact Nicole Orr's parents saying that their daughter's hair violated school dress code policy.
“People say they love my hair because it’s so diverse, curly and Afro-centric,” 16-year-old Orr told WOFL.
Orr felt singled out for her hair, which she says she is known for.
"She literally felt, ‘Wow, what's wrong with my hair? The Caucasian girls are able to wear their natural hair straight. Why can't I wear my natural hair the way that it grows?’” said her mom, Secily Wilson.
The family referenced the school's handbook, where they found an issue worth bringing attention to.
“It said 'dread-like' hair and so that could be ambiguous and it could give you latitude to target a certain person or a certain group so we felt we needed to address the issue,” said Nicole's dad, Eric Orr.
On Monday, Monteverde's headmaster, Dr. Kasey Kesselring met with the family to clarify the the reason for the issue.
“My understanding in talking with the dean of students, I think it was more in line with that neat and organized look that we're going for. Not so much the issue of dread locks per say,” Kesselring told WOFL.
After reviewing the school's hair policy, Kesselring decided to eliminate the line with dread locks in an effort to be inclusive.
“To know that we were able to help our daughter and all the other daughters or boys out there... we feel pretty good about it,” Wilson said.
