Most school kids hate getting their class picture taken. I know I did. Back in the day, when I was little, a class picture meant having to stay neat and tidy for the whole morning.
No playing outside, no rough-housing. Your shirt had to be tucked in, your hair had to be flat, and you had to keep the grass stains off your knees. It was a total drag.
However, that doesn't mean that kids want to be excluded from it, and keeping a child away from the camera could make them feel pretty blue. This week, sadly, an eight-year-old girl experienced just that.
Marian Scott, a third-grader attending Paragon Charter Academy in Jackson County, showed up to school for picture day with red braids fashioned into a bun. Marian wasn't allowed to have her school photo taken alongside her peers as a result, and allegedly felt singled out.
Commenting on the situation in a later interview with NBC affiliate WILX, her father Doug Scott stated: "Marian didn’t leave out the house, go down the street, and go get this done on her own. She’s 8 years old. We did this ourselves in our home and there's no way I felt like this would happen."
He added: "Had I seen the email, I probably would have told Marian's mother to not do it, but I guess I think it's good that this happened because now people are going to get the opportunity to see what is really going on. If she's not a disruption to the class, then why is she a disruption to the picture."
In a statement made to NBC News, Paragon Academy stated: "We take great care to ensure our families are well-informed about this policy, and also work closely with students and their parents if there’s a concern."
Meanwhile, principal Ben Kriesch claimed that students who have a hairstyle violation are given a week or so to get it corrected. The Scott family is intending on having Marian's picture taken again in the future.
