Jess Vine: Teen Shaves Head For Cancer Charity, Can’t Return To School Unless She Wears Wig
Jess Vine, 15, has been banned from school because she shaved her head to help raise money for charity in memory of her late grandfather and reportedly has been told she can return if she wears a wig.
The Huffington Post stated that Jess “bravely lopped off her long locks” to fund-raise for Cancer Research UK after her grandfather lost his battle with cancer last year. A student-run website, Yoppul, stated that Ryde Academy is receiving a lot of criticism after they told Jess that she could not return to school unless she wore a wig.
Wendy Vine, Jess’s mother, has said that her daughter shouldn’t be forced to wear the wig, considering she didn’t cut her hair to draw attention to herself, but instead for charity. “It’s ridiculous after what she has done for charity,” she told Metro.
Wendy has expressed that her daughter has wanted to shave her head to help raise money for cancer research for years.
“She’s got such long hair, and she’s so young, I wondered ‘is she going to regret it?’ She’s wanted to do it for a long time already, but I didn’t let her until now. I have to give her my blessing, though, because she’d only go and do it behind my back otherwise!”
According to Metro, Ryde Academy confirmed that the 15-year-old had to wear the wig as part of its uniform policy which stated that their “policy about hair is that it should look natural.” While the school has begun receiving harsh criticism for making Jess wear a wig to school, they released the following statement to the Huffington Post:
“Over the last few months Ryde Academy has been working hard to improve student behavior, conduct and achievement and this has involved dealing with a number of issues to do with students appearance and haircuts. We were recently approached by a student to ask if we would allow her to shave her hair for charity. She herself recognized the difficulties her request might lead to, so she offered to wear a wig so that her haircut would not be noticeable during school hours. Under those conditions we were very happy to support her fundraising for charity. Our policy about hair is that it should look natural. If there are medical reasons why this is not possible then we make a reasonable adjustment.”
Since Jess Vine’s story broke, many worldwide are saying that the girl shouldn’t be forced to wear a wig. You can check out the debate via twitter here:
Do you believe that Jess Vine should be banned from classes if she doesn’t wear her wig? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[Image via Just Giving]
