It seems like a day doesn’t go by without faceless bureaucrats trying to police every aspect of our lives. Thanks to the ever expanding size of government, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to escape the long arm of the State, which it seems compelled to take its interference to Orwellian levels.
The most innocuous things are getting government busy-bodies up in a tizzy these days, and the latest example might be the most ludicrous yet, as it defies all common sense and reason.
As reported at the New York Post, 15-year-old freshman Chloe Terpenning, who attends West Burlington High School in Iowa, has been targeted by the school for having the audacity to wear a knit beanie to keep her head warm after losing her hair in a battle with cancer.
What makes things more ridiculous is that she initially transferred to West Burlington after being bullied at her previous school for losing her hair during chemotherapy.
Upon arrival at the new school, she found that more than anyone, the administrators were determined to bully her and abandon all reason regarding her hair and head.
Like a lot of schools, West Burlington bans hats, caps, hoods, and other headgear. But being new to the whole bald thing, Chloe initially wore her hood up to keep her head warm. However, she soon found herself in the office in early December for the infraction. There she explained that she refrained from wearing a wig because it inhibited her hair growing back, gave her headaches, and made gym class difficult.
But those logical reasons fell on deaf and unsympathetic ears, as administrators told Terpenning she needs to take steps to adjust to her new short hair. Candice Osslund, Chloe’s mom, disagrees with the school’s opinion, saying that her daughter should be comfortable while getting an education, which means allowing her to wear something to cover her growing hair.
Despite the order given by the administrators, Terpenning wore a knit beanie made specifically for cancer patients to school. She barely made it through the front gates before being stopped by the principal and sent to the office, where she was stuck for the entire day.
“In the office, it is a very small room and I don’t get any lessons in there. I just get the assignments and am expected to have them done the next day,” Terpenning said.
“And the door’s wide open, so anyone who walks by can see me sitting in there.”
Terpenning refused to stop wearing the beanie, so she was stuck in the office for rest of the week as well. The school did decide to budge from its absolutist stance for a few days, however, as she was given permission to wear a bandanna or kerchief until Christmas break. But starting next semester, it’s a wig or nothing at all. Really? A bandana? As if wearing that or a beanie is any different. It’s like they’re intentionally rubbing it in her face to offer such a “compromise.”
About the ultimatum about next semester, “They compared it to a bad haircut,” her mother said.
Terpenning started a petition Friday to change the school’s dress code policy, and as of Sunday, she had obtained 222 signatures on a hard copy petition and another 103 online.
District Superintendent David Schmitt said the issue will be left open-ended so each student can be considered on a case-by-case basis. He said if Terpenning is more comfortable wearing a hat, she can do so.
What makes this all the more enraging is the fact that if it was a “trans” kid saying they needed a special bathroom or wanted to go in the opposite sexes’ bathroom/locker-room, you can bet they’d be bending over backward to appease the request. But they won’t even let a cancer survivor keep her bald head warm.
If that’s the case, then why on earth are the clowns running her school going out of their way to target her? It’s obscene, the lack of common sense and reason. Their absolutist stance is so juvenile and not at all principled like they think it is. Let’s hope that Chloe continues to show up with a beanie on, no matter how many signatures she gets or what the administration says.
Source: New York Post