HAIR: 17-y.o. sues Texas school over hair

Juan A. Lozano, APnews.com, 9/20/23; KHOU 11; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

HOUSTON (AP) — The debate over whether a Black high school student in Texas should be serving in-school suspension for wearing twisted dreadlocks to class intensified this week as the student’s family and his school district both took legal action.

Darryl George, 17, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, has been serving an in-school suspension since Aug. 31st at the Houston-area school.

School officials say his dreadlocks fall below his eyebrows and ear lobes and violate the district’s dress code.

Mr. George’s mother, Darresha George, and the family’s attorney deny the teenager’s hairstyle violates the Barbers Hill Independent School District dress code and have accused the district of violating a new state law that outlaws racial discrimination based on hairstyles.

The new law, the CROWN Act, took effect Sept. 1st, 2023. 

On Tuesday, Darresha George and her attorney filed a formal complaint with the Texas Education Agency, alleging that Darryl George was being harassed and mistreated by school district officials over his hair and that his in-school suspension was in violation of the CROWN Act.

On Wednesday, the agency notified Darresha George and her attorney that it will investigate the complaint. Later Wednesday, the Barbers Hill school district announced it had filed a lawsuit in state district court asking a judge to clarify whether its dress code restrictions limiting student hair length for boys violates the CROWN Act. The lawsuit was filed in Chambers County, located east of Houston. More

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