A mom has claimed that a Christian high school in Louisville, Kentucky, expelled her teen daughter after she posed next to a rainbow cake on her birthday.
The school denies the allegations and claims she violated its code of conduct many times.
Kimberly Alford says her 15-year-old daughter, Kayla Kenney, is a humorous, outgoing young girl who loves music and loves to dance.
Kayla celebrated her 15th birthday, and Alford posted a picture of her wearing a sweater with rainbow stripes and posing next to a brightly colored birthday cake.
“She was happy, she looked beautiful,” Alford told WAVE.
Alford said she received an email from the head of her daughter’s high school, Bruce Jacobson, a week later. In the email, Alford said Jacobson wrote that Kayla had been expelled over a social media post. The email had that picture of Kayla and the cake attached to it, she said. The family also received a statement that she was being “dismissed” over a “continued breach of the school’s code of conduct.”
According to Alford, the Kentucky school informed her that the color of her daughter’s cake and the sweater “demonstrates a posture of morality and cultural acceptance contrary to that of Whitefield Academy’s beliefs.” Rainbow is often used as a symbol for LGBTQ+.
Alford told BuzzFeed News, “This is not about sexuality. This is not about being gay. This is about me celebrating my daughter’s birthday with her.”
Alford told the Courier-Journal, which first reported on the expulsion, that her daughter is not a member of the LGBTQ community.
Alford said school authorities told her she “represented gay pride” and she should have refused to take the cake when she saw the colors.
The academic guidelines shared on the school’s website state “the mission of Whitefield Academy is to serve Christian families by providing a Christ-centered, Biblically-based education marked by academic excellence and spiritual vitality.”
It adds: “On occasion, the atmosphere or conduct within a particular home may be counter or in opposition to the Biblical lifestyle the school teaches. This includes, but is not limited to, sexual immorality, homosexual orientation, or the inability to support Biblical standards of right and wrong.”
In a statement to Fox News, the school said that the decision was not “solely for a social media post,” but because of violations of the student code of conduct “numerous times over the past two years.”
Alford shared that she received complaints about her daughter in the past regarding disciplinary issues with the school involving a haircut, missing classes, and e-cigarettes. She faced suspension last fall over vaping and was put on probation.
Jacobson did not respond to a request for comment about Alford’s allegations. The school only said that the reports that Kayla had been expelled over a social media post are “inaccurate” and her expulsion was due to her violating the “student code of conduct numerous times over the past two years.”
The statement added: “All parents who enroll their children in our private school know upfront that we ask the students to adhere to a lifestyle informed by our Christian beliefs…Unfortunately, one of the student’s parents chose to post internal family matters on social media, and we hope our former student is not adversely affected by what her parents chose to make public about her situation.”
Alford reviewed the decision, but her request was denied. She said she’s thinking to take further steps against the school.
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