That is until Monday, when the principal at Gladewater High School, Cathy Bedair called Hooper’s mom to tell her the hairstyle violated the school dress code.
“I said no ma’am; there is no reason that she should have to hide or take her hair down when she’s worn her hair [in braids] throughout the school year,” Kieana Hooper, who is white, told Essence.
Hooper’s mom told the principal she refuses to make her daughter, who maintains an A-average and volunteers with hospice patients and special-needs children, change her hair for the ceremony.
Gladewater Independent School District Superintendent Sedric Clark denies Bedair was targeting Hooper and said the issues was the color of the hair, not the style.
Clark also confirmed that Hooper will be able to walk after Bedair decided that K.J.’s hair color is “close enough to a natural hair color.”
