"Tangle Over Boy's Long Locks" -- Is this school discriminating against boys?
dd...@bellsouth.net
discriminating against boys?
NATION
Parents, School Tangle Over Boy's Long Locks
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Jeff Carlton
AP
BALCH SPRINGS, Texas (Dec. 17) -- Taylor Pugh has been suspended from
pre-kindergarten because he likes his hair a little on the floppy
side.
The 4-year-old sat with a teacher's aide in a suburban Dallas school
library Wednesday while his friends played and studied together in a
classroom.
"They kicked me out that place," said Taylor, who prefers the nickname
Tater Tot. "I miss my friends."
Taylor's locks -- long on the front and sides, covering his earlobes
and shirt collar -- violate the school district's dress code. He has
been punished with in-school suspension since late last month.
Mona Reeder, Dallas Morning News / MCT
Taylor Pugh, 4, will get a haircut eventually, his parents said, but
they are frustrated that their Texas school district has punished him
for his long locks.
His parents say the boy plans to eventually cut his hair and donate it
to a charity that makes wigs for cancer patients. And they are not
happy with the district's rules.
The school district appears "more concerned about his hair than his
education," said Taylor's father, Delton Pugh. "I don't think it's
right to hold a child down and force him to do something ... when it's
not hurting him or affecting his education."
Pugh, a tattoo artist, said he used to shave his own head but that his
son "made me pinky promise I would let my hair grow long with him."
The follicle fight came to a head last month when Taylor's parents
received a signed letter from Floyd Elementary School's principal,
threatening to withdraw the boy from school if his hair didn't comply
with district standards.
When Taylor's parents didn't budge, their son was suspended.
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When the boy returned, his hair was longer than ever. But school
officials decided suspension was too harsh and changed the punishment.
"They still have regular classroom work, but in an isolated
environment," Mesquite Independent School District spokesman Ian
Halperin said of the modified in-school suspension that Taylor is
serving. "We expect students ... to adhere to the code of conduct."
According to the district dress code, boys' hair must be kept out of
the eyes and cannot extend below the bottom of earlobes or over the
collar of a dress shirt. Hairstyles "designed to attract attention to
the individual or to disrupt the orderly conduct of the classroom or
campus (are) not permitted," the policy states.
The district is known for standing tough on its dress code. Earlier
this year, a seventh-grader in the district was sent home for wearing
black skinny pants. His parents chose to home-school him.
On its Web site, the district defends its code, saying "students who
dress and groom themselves neatly, and in an acceptable and
appropriate manner, are more likely to become constructive members of
the society in which we live."
A persistent violator could face additional suspensions, but such
issues are handled on a case-by-case basis, Halperin said.
Pugh said the issue is about more than hair. He said his son is being
singled out, and that he has seen other male students in the district
with hair much longer than Taylor's.
"Nobody wants to meet in the middle. It's all or nothing," Pugh said.
"He's my son. I love him. I will back him to the end."