Boy banned from kindergarten because of long hair

[Roon]

NEEDVILLE, Texas - A Texas school board will soon decide if a boy's long hair should keep him from attending school.


The Needville Independent School District said 5-year-old Adriel Arocha's long locks violate school rules.

Adriel's parents say long hair is a sacred tradition in their Native American culture
http://www.9news.com/news/watercooler/article.aspx?storyid=95899&catid=337

[fishwax]

1. what year is this?

:wtf:

:shrug:

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Aschool has a rule against long hair? Does it apply to girls as well as boys?

This is beyond absurd.

[pagandem4justice]

23. You may have a point here...

I wonder if they can sue under Title IX, which as I recall (I teach in TX, but am no legal expert!) is a federal statute that bans discriminatory behavior on the part of public institutions on the basis of gender. If that's so, someone with standing (i.e., this family) can bring suit challenging not the right of the school board to set dress code (which is supported by precedent), but their right to set it on the basis of gender. Basically, if boys' hair must be short, so must girls'...or else no rule. ;)

If so...victory! (no school board hoping to be re-elected will tell girls to cut off their "feminine" hair!)

[FloridaJudy]

3. Oh for crying out loud

Schools don't have enough problems that they need to make an issue of stuff like this? Are they going to deny Sikhs and Orthodox Jews a place in school as well? Those groups also have strictures against cutting all or part of their hair.

Ah, Texas. At least there's still one state in the union determined to make Florida look good.

[IndianaJones]

4. home school him. its Texas. nt.

[loveable liberal]

5. Stupid is as stupid does my momma used to say.....

[sasquatch]

6. Where's William Tecumseh Sherman when we need him?

[Sequoia]

11. What? Marching through Texas with a torch maybe?

[sasquatch]

12. That'd be great if that was true

[Sugar Smack]

7. Oh, good. That's just what he needs.

First off, for an institution to even be making an issue of it; second, for his family's completely peaceful practice to be held up by the institution as "unacceptable" and third; encouraging his classmates to see him as "unacceptable". Adults to children. Oh, that's really good.

:nuke:

[Tikki]

8. Could that little guy be any cuter....and do you...

think any of his classmates are even going to notice his hair after they see that smile?!!!


Tikki

[QueenOfCalifornia]

9. My 8 year old

asked me if he could grow his hair long. I told him I didn't care one bit. If the school makes any kind of scene over it, they will be asking for a fight. Last year, a kid had a mohawk - he was 5. The kindergarten teacher sent the little guy to the principals office who in turn told his mother the mohawk caused a distraction - of course it did... Sure, the little 5 year olds were all horrified by the kids mohawk. What a crock of shit. I told the mother to take it up with the school board, which she did. It was really stupid that the woman had to waste her time protecting the rights of her little boy who looked fine - She ended up taking her kids out of that school and moving them to a different school. It was absurd.

So... it doesn't just happen in Texas. It happened here in Red County San Diego. Oh... and the little boy's Daddy? He was on a ship in the Persian Gulf deployed by the idiot chimp.

[fizzgig]

10. i'm not thrilled about how litigous we have become, but i think this family has a law suit

it's discrimination couched in administrative bullshit.

i knew plenty of boys with long hair when i was a kid and it didn't distract me from my school work one bit

[kentauros]

19. They may very well be suing, once they hear back from the ACLU.

And even if the ACLU doesn't take the case, they have said they will hire a lawyer on their own. The article I posted further down details that better than I can faithfully remember ;)

[crimsonblue]

13. why is it appropriate for a girl to have long hair?

This is gender discrimination, plain and simple. If one child can't have long hair, then NO CHILD she be allowed long hair, girl or boy.

[LeftyMom]

14. I don't see anything wrong with the kid having long hair, but my kid has an orange mohawk.

Well, it's orange again this week. Last week it was blue.

[sasquatch]

15. Flip flopper, that kid needs some direction

:eyes:




























:D

[DarkTirade]

16. Not the first case of this sort in Texas

the problem is that the first few times around the Texas court took the side of the schools, so now there's a precedent. A ridiculous and probably unconstitutional precedent... but hey.

[Danger Mouse]

17. Oh, what a fucking load. All the problems we have in schools and THIS is what they

want to make a big deal about?

[kentauros]

18. This story was covered in greater detail in The Houston Press

but they're also known for their investigative journalism.

I've had this copy sitting in my car all week and finally got around to reading it. A somewhat progressive co-worker lives there, so I'll have to ask her tomorrow what her take on it is. For me, it's yet another example of the rednecks that surround Houston. They can stay out in the boonies, too.

Here's the HP story if y'all want to read more:

A Native American Family Fights Against Hair Length Rules: When five-year-old Adriel Arocha ran afoul of the Needville school district, getting cut off wasn't an option for his parents

[txwhitedove]

27. Great article. Too bad the family bought their land. Always check

out the school system first. All it takes is one backwards superintendent.

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. Just crazy

[Oeditpus Rex]

21. This, presumably, is Needville's god

Or, at least, their image of him.

[kentauros]

22. Needville was originally called Schendelville

although the "need" portion came from the founder trying to jokingly name the town "Needmore" due to needing more of everything there ;) The Post Office changed it to Needville since there was another town elsewhere in the country (maybe Texas, tho I don't know about that) using the name.

More info on Needville from the Handbook of Texas Online so you can get your facts straight when taking the superintendent and their school board down another few notches :)

[Iggo]

24. That happened in my school.

Of course it was Catholic school.

Oh yeah...and it was 1966.

[txwhitedove]

25. School Boards everywhere take up this issue from time to time. It is not

just Texas. Spring I.S.D. has some odd rules, runs the high school like a prison with too many inmates, tbe kids have to say the Pledge of Allegiance -AND- a Texas pledge, can get an actual ticket to go to court if a teacher even "thinks" they say a curse word, BUT the boys can have long hair, facial hair, and wear pretty much what they want as long as they have their I.D.

Schools are different everywhere. Please don't just bash Texas. We don't like Georgie either.

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/football/other_nfl/view.bg?articleid=1083183&srvc=rss

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=12135

http://www.pamspaulding.com/weblog/2005/03/politics-of-hair-again-school-bans.html

http://cache.search.yahoo-ht2.akadns.net/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=Long+Hair+%2A+School+ban&fr=b2ie7&u=www.namibian.com.na/2008/July/national/08147EF2C6.html&w=long+hair+school+schools+ban+bans&d=LqsXey72RGvm&icp=1&.intl=us

http://www.ksat.com/news/14214756/detail.html

[ThomCat]

26. Why the fuck do they care how long a kid's hair is?

As long as it's clean and cared for it should be none of their damned business. x(