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Utah teen suspended for dying her hair red

Officials at a Utah middle school asked 15-year-old Rylee MacKay to leave class when they decided her dyed hair was too unnatural and distracting.
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(<a class="tpstyle" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2276787/Utah-teen-Rylee-MacKay-isolation-dyes-unnatural-looking-pink-purple-hair.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#axzz2KhqFmw5k" target="_blank">Facebook via Daily Mail</a>)
Published: Feb. 12, 2013 at 4:40 PM
By KATE STANTON, UPI.com

Do you think this 15-year-old girl's hair is offensively red? School officials in Hurricane, Utah thought so.

Hurricane Middle School has allowed ninth-grader Rylee MacKay to return to school after officials threatened to suspend her for dying her hair a shade of red they said was too "pink and purple" for the classroom.

“They brought me into the office and told me [my hair] had to be changed by the next day,” MacKay told The Spectrum. “They told me I could finish my week’s worth [of school work] in the office so nobody could see me.”

MacKay's mother, Amy, told KSL.com that school administrators thought Rylee's new shade of red "didn't fit on the spectrum of natural color" and barred her from class.

"We talked to the hairdresser about the school rules and told her it had to stay in the natural color spectrum of red," Amy MacCay said.

According to The Daily Mail, the school's dress code bans "extreme hairstyles." Washington County School District policy allows school administers to decide what falls within the spectrum of "natural" hair color.

MacCay's story went viral on the internet, with many questioning the school's reaction to a relatively muted shade of red.

"This policy is straight ridiculous, and it's shocking that it's allowed at a public school," Jezebel's Laura Beck wrote. "Do students have rights in this situation, or are they completely subjected to the whims of school administrators?"

MacCay was allowed back to school after principal Dr. Ron Hoyt said she had "washed it several times" and the color faded.

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