Darryl George, a Black student at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, was suspended for more than two weeks for his loc hairstyle. The suspension came the same week that Texas outlawed racial discrimination based on hairstyles. The Barbers Hill ISD Dress and Grooming Code allows protective hairstyles, but any hairstyle must meet the requirements.
George is a 17-year-old junior at the school. This is his first year at Barbers Hill High School. Last year, he attended a school in Baytown, Texas.
The school claims there was no discrimination. George’s lawyer is threatening to report the school.
Allie Booker, an attorney representing the family, that school officials have asked George and his mother to meet to discuss the continued disciplinary action over his hairstyle violations.
The family has been given a Wednesday deadline to meet with school officials, the lawyer said.
“What I expect for them to try to do is to put him out of school,” Booker. “But they won’t do it with our consent.”
The family was previously told the teen would be placed in a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program, also known as alternative school, if he didn’t cut his hair, Booker said.
David Bloom, director of communications for the Barbers Hill Independent School District, said the district is “unable to provide any comment with respect to disciplinary matters involving a student.”
George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, received multiple disciplinary action notes and was placed on in-school suspension for wearing his locs hairstyle in a ponytail, his mother, Darresha George, previously told CNN.
She said Darryl was suspended the same week the state’s CROWN Act, a law prohibiting discrimination based on one’s hair texture or protective hairstyle such as locs and braids, went into effect.
His mother told CNN the family is considering legal action.
She also said school officials told George his loc hairstyle violated the district dress code which also states, “Male students’ hair must not extend below the top of a t-shirt collar or be gathered or worn in a style that would allow the hair to extend below the top of a t-shirt collar, below the eyebrows, or below the ear lobes when let down.”
George was initially reprimanded by a school official for his locs and for wearing frayed jeans, which are also prohibited.
His mother previously told CNN the school said the 17-year-old he could change his clothes but he would also have to cut his hair. When the teen did not cut his hair, he was put on in-school suspension.
