Cancer Survivor Punished For Wearing Hat To School

An Iowa teen who was punished for wearing a hat after losing her hair in the process of stage two Hodgkin’s lymphoma is petitioning her high school to change its dress code, according to the Hawk Eye Tuesday.

Chloe Terpenning, 15, once had long hair that stretched past her hips, but it began to fall out after she started chemotherapy for cancer in March. The cancer is in remission, but her hair is coming back slowly.

Terpenning spent last week in the principal’s office because she wore a knit beanie specially made for cancer survivors.

“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. And the door’s wide open,” Terpenning told the Hawk Eye. “So anyone who walks by can see me sitting in there.”

Terpenning wore wigs for the first part of her semester at West Burlington High School in Iowa, but found them uncomfortable and said they hindered her natural hair growth.

After being punished for the hat, Terpenning said the school gave her an ultimatum: she could wear a bandanna or handkerchief until Christmas break, but then her option was a wig or nothing or face more disciplinary action.

Terpenning said she was having a tough time with her hair and that she transferred from nearby Burlington High School because she was bullied about it.

“I was constantly harassed, threatened and bullied because of my hair,” said Terpenning.

Terpenning’s mother, Candice Osslund, told the Hawk Eye that the school should have some leniency for her daughter.

“I get where the school’s coming from. They’ve got policy in place, but there’s got to be a gray area in there,” said Osslund. “Of course, I think she looks gorgeous with her natural hair, but for a 15-year-old girl who had hair down to her butt [it’s hard].”

Osslund said she thinks that school administrators are trying to help her adjust to her new hair situation, but she would rather them just let her be comfortable.

Terpenning created a petition on paper and an online petition for the school to change its policy.

The school district’s superintendent, David Schmitt, said that the policy is open-ended and that the student can wear hats if she wishes — Terpenning’s punishments at her school seem to dispute that.

Terpenning and her mother will meet with Schmitt Friday to discuss the dress code policy.