The actions of school officials in Utah have one student seeing red.

The Washington County School District has forbid 15-year-old Rylee MacKay from returning to class at Hurricane Middle School, in Hurricane, Utah, until she dyes her hair back to what is considered a “natural” color.

The problem is Rylee had dyed her hair red earlier this month and her mother says it’s same color she’s been dying it since September, leading her to wonder why the school never said anything until now.

The dress code explicit states:

“Hair color should be within the spectrum of color that hair grows naturally."

As a matter of fact, Rylee’s mother, Amy, said she and her hairdresser had previously told Rylee to go with a less extreme shade of red to fit in with the school’s guidelines.

Amy refuses to make her dye her hair back to her natural brown, adding, "My daughter feels beautiful with the red hair. Changing her hair really changed her; she really blossomed."

School officials had no comment on the matter, but Rylee’s mother continued to let her feelings be known on the matter;

"At this age, these kids are going through so much with peer pressure and trying to find themselves — look at the depression and teen suicide rates — and all we're doing is stifling them more. They have no leeway in how to become themselves. We don't let them do a lot of things for their own safety, but there's got to be some give. We're making little clones."

[KSL]

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