Child Being Persecuted by School for Being Different

My daughter attends a local school in the area, and is being persecuted by students and school officials for being different from the other kids. Let me start by presenting that my child makes A's and B's on her report cards, and always has. She is a good student, and very intelligent. Here's where it takes a turn, she is into the anime/ goth culture, and dresses as much as she can in that fashion, in accordance with the school's "dress code". She has been hounded since day one, first because she wore bracelets. The bracelets weren't little gold bracelets, it was a black cloth band, with a picture of an anime character "invader zim" on it, that she purchased from a local store in the mall. She was told by teachers her bracelet was "distracting" the other children, and that it was evil. Several of the school teachers, and vice principals threatened to have her suspended for wearing them. Students having big pink bows or beads in the hair, or other "normal" bracelets were not threatened. Students with flashy jewels or gems on their clothing were not harassed, students with bright pink or red hair were also not threatened. Yet my daughter who is on the honor roll was too distracting by having a bracelet. Upon reviewing the schools dress code there was no prohibition for bracelets, so I continued to allow her to wear it.

She excels at art, and loves to draw all the time. She is relatively famous in school for her artwork, and has had her pictures in local art shows. Children often ask her to draw them things, and beg for her pictures. Once again it takes a small divergence. She also likes to draw on her arms. Much like a tattoo, she uses non- toxic materials and draws Japanese lettering, and small pictures representing her various anime shows she enjoys. She has done this for years, and I allow it as i see it as freedom of expression, and freedom of speech, protected under the first amendment of the constitution. Several people think that its "wrong" for her to write on herself. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, thats what makes America the country it is. Whether or not you feel it is "correct" for her to write on herself or not, its not illegal or harmful to her in any way. If she made horrid grades, I could understand maybe this is making her not do her work, however this is not the case. She has never been in a fight at school, or threatened students with violence. She draws tattoos on herself at home. I do NOT allow her to draw on herself at school.

The school children who love her art work and beg for it however, are VERY against her expressing herself in this manner. They call her a "devil worshiper", say that its "tacky", "emo", and dangerous. She is treated like a gun wielding psycho by the staff members at the school. I have had conferences with teachers and vice principals, and tell me that the students are afraid of her and have complained to counselors that they are afraid of her, and that she has to stop to ensure the safety of all the other children. Pardon me, but if a child is afraid your going to harm them because you write on your arm, they most likely have other issues. It's always easy to brand someone that deviates from society's norm and use them as a scapegoat for your problems, as opposed to dealing with the real problem. The school today has threatened to take her out of normal school, and place her in a "program" for suicidal, violent, and "trouble children" . For no other reason then marking on her arms. It may surprise you that tattooing is an ancient art form, well over 6,000 years old. We've had kings and emperors that tattooed themselves, soldiers in the armed forces used to tattoo themselves as far back as world war I. And now its wrong for my daughter to do it, so wrong that she is considered a danger that must be removed.

In summary, is writing on yourself an act that represents a clear and present danger to others? Is artwork to now be considered as violence and a deviance that must be removed from common society? Are there not better things for school officials to do besides harassing a honor roll student that has never caused problems, for being different. Just because you yourself don't write on yourself, it doesn't give you the right to impinge on someone else's freedom to do so. If anyone is interested, and has any information, legal precedents, or advice on this matter, I will openly accept it. Help me stop this schools censorship and outright attempt to deprive my child of her rights.