Colo. girl banned from school after shaving head to support cancer

NBC 9 News Kamryn Renfro, seen here a Grand Junction playground, was kicked out of school Monday for shaving her head, something the young girl did to support her cancer-stricken friend.Delaney Clements said she felt less alone after 9-year-old friend Kamryn Renfro shaved her head to match Delaney's. Delaney is suffering from a rare childhood cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy, which caused her hair to fall out.NBC 9 News Caprock Academy in Grand Junction, Colo., a public charter school, sent Kamryn Renfro home Monday after she arrived for class with a bald head. She shaved it to show solidarity with friend afflicted with cancer, but administrators said her bald pate violated the dress code.NBC 9 News Kamryn Renfro, left, and Delaney Clements, 11, who just started chemo, played together Monday after Kamryn was sent home from school for cutting off her hair in solidarity with her sick friend.

A child's act of compassion has gotten her kicked out of school.

Kamryn Renfro, a 9-year-old whose dear friend is battling a rare childhood cancer, wanted to show support by shaving her own head to match her pal's bald pate.

Renfro's parents gave their approval and the young girl headed proudly to school Monday to show her classmates what she'd done. But once there, she was told she was in violation of the Caprock Academy dress code and that she would not be allowed in class.

The girls, playing outside Monday afternoon in a Grand Junction park, said they didn't understand the school's actions.

'It felt like the right thing to do,' Kamryn told KUSA-TV.

Her friend, 11-year-old Delaney Clements, said she now feels less like an object of derision, and loves that Kamryn now looks like her.

'It made me feel very special and that I'm not alone,' Delaney said.

Caprock Academy, a public charter school with guidelines about what can be worn at school, did not immediately return a phone message left by the Daily News.

In a statement, administrators said 'shaved heads are not permitted.'

It felt like the right thing to do.

'It makes me sad because she was really happy to go back to school and show people what she did, but now that she didn't get to, she's kind sad,' said Delaney.

Delaney's mom thought Kamryn had done a very courageous thing and should have been praised for it.

'For a little girl to be really brave and want to shave her head in support of her friend, I thought that was a huge statement and it builds character in a child,' she told the station.

School officials later said they would hold a special board of directors meeting to Tuesday to review the incident.