A Black student in Texas was informed Thursday that he will be removed from his high school and sent to a disciplinary alternative education program amid a dispute over his hairstyle.
Darryl George,18, a student at Barbers Hill High has been suspended since August 31 for wearing twisted dreadlocks to school.
Officials say George’s hairstyle violates the district’s dress code which does not allow male students to have hair extending below the eyebrows, ear lobes or top of a T-shirt collar.
According to a letter signed by the school’s Principal Lance Murphy and obtained by CNN, George will be sent to EPIC, an alternative school program, from October 12 to November 29 for “failure to comply” with campus and classroom regulations.
The letter cites violations for “multiple infractions of campus and classroom rules” including, “disruption of the ISS classroom, failure to comply with directives from staff/administration, violation of tardy policy and violation of the dress and grooming policy.”
“As the School Principal, I have determined that your child has engaged in chronic or repeated disciplinary infractions that violate the District’s previously communicated standards of student conduct,” the letter reads.
George will be allowed to return to regular classes on Nov. 30, but until then he’s not allowed on the school’s campus unless he’s there to discuss his conduct with school administrators, according to the Associated Press.
George’s mother said all the men in their family have dreadlocks, going back generations. She said the hairstyle has cultural and religious importance for them.
“Our hair is where our strength is, that’s our roots,” Darresha George told the AP. “He has his ancestors locked into his hair, and he knows that.”
The family has filed a lawsuit against the Texas governor, attorney general and the school district, alleging that they failed to enforce the state’s CROWN Act, a new law which went into effect on Sept. 1 that bans employers and schools from penalizing people because of their hairstyle.
