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Oklahoma schoolgirl sent home in tears because of dreadlocks

Talk about a bad hair day!

A little girl in Tulsa, Okla., was sent home in tears after officials at her charter school opposed to her "faddish hair."

Tiana Parker, 7, has dreadlocks.

"They didn't like my dreads," Tiana tells Fox 23. "I think that they should let me have my dreads."

The hairstyle violates Deborah Brown Community School's dress code that states "hairstyles such as dreadlocks, afros, mohawks, and other faddish styles are unacceptable."

"She's always presentable. I take pride in my kids looking nice," Tiana's father, Terrance Parker tells Fox 23.

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"She went to the school last year and didn’t have any problems," Parker, a barber, adds, telling a reporter that his daughter's hairstyle had not changed since last year.

"It hurt my feelings to the core."

Parker says that the school hassled him and didn't leave him a choice: he removed his daughter from the school for good.

Tiana, a straight-A student, now goes to a school that accepts her for her hair.

Tiana's story has gone viral. On Deborah Brown Community School's Facebook page, hundreds of angry comments have been posted.

"It's problematic that you would embrace a child who has had his or her hair chemically altered to be straight but reject a student who is demonstrating appreciation for how wonderfully made she is. How can we expect other people to accept and respect us when we don't do it for ourselves?" writes Brandi Johnson.

"How is a child wearing a style that is native to her hair type any more faddish than a Caucasian child with a head full of curls, or wearing braided pigtails? This is what you focus on? If this is 'the best that is in you' for your organization, this child is certainly better off elsewhere. Shame on you. You've certainly taught a valuable lesson here: sometimes educators are the ones that need to be educated the most," writes Stevie Caldwell.

Also see: Parents' tardiness lands six-year-old in detention

One commenter, a researcher and professor, writes that she wishes she had worn her hair as Tiana does now when she was young.

"How I wish that at Tiana's age I had already known to accept and enjoy my natural hair. Your school would have done well to learn from her and her father Terrance that African-textured hair is not a problem to be fixed," writes Dr. Vanessa Chistina Wills, PhD. "Referring to locs and afros as 'faddish' hairstyles betrays a breathtaking lack of historical and cultural awareness, and so it is clear that some further education for the school officials here would not go amiss.

She adds, "Tiana, as a straight-A student at your school, was a living example that there is no contradiction between Blackness and scholarly achievement. This is a lesson that appears to be utterly lost on Deborah Brown Community School."

Tiana's school isn't the first to make headlines for making a fuss over students' hairstyles.

Also see: Teen kicked out of class for hair colour

In Singapore this summer, two teen girls who shaved their heads to support a cancer charity were told by their school to wear wigs in the classroom.

Last fall, an Ohio teen was suspended for growing out his hair for the charity Locks of Love.

Another Utah student was kicked out of class for dying her hair auburn. The oddest part of the story: she had been dying her hair that same shade for six months prior to being sent to the principal's office.

Even a 4-year-old managed to get banned from class for her hair. Little Marcella Marino showed up for her school photo with an undo that resembled a hair bow. According to her primary school's strict dress code, ribbons or bows must be only "made of dark colours, maroon/navy blue/black" and "hair braids/beads may not be worn."

School boards of the world, hair is not the enemy.

And, parents, maybe it's time to read the dress-code rules before sending your kids to school.