Black Texas student given additional suspension for loc hairstyle

A Black Texas high school student who was suspended because his loc hairstyle violated the district’s dress code was suspended again upon his return to school Monday, an attorney for the family told CNN.

Darryl George has been suspended for more than two weeks because his loc hairstyle violates the Barbers Hill Independent School District dress and grooming code, according to his family.
The code states that “male students’ hair will not extend, at any time, below the eyebrows or below the ear lobes,” CNN previously reported.

Allie Booker, an attorney representing the family, told CNN Tuesday 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 told CNN. “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.

In a statement shared with CNN, 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.

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