Wylie ISD senior challenges dress code rule on facial hair, won't shave
A Wylie High School senior and his father asked the Wylie ISD board at its meeting Monday to revise the district's dress code, which does not permit facial hair.
Superintendent Joey Light confirmed the student is out of compliance and currently is serving in-school suspension.
Light said the ban on facial hair "goes back as far as I remember."
The dress code is reviewed yearly, and Light indicated this requirement likely would be revisited this summer. However, it won't be changed during the school year.
This issue has come up before, with compliance eventually coming, he said.
"I would say all of them have. I wouldn't say necessarily immediately," Light said Friday.
The student and his father addressed the board Monday.
"They said he is not going to shave. They want it changed," Wylie said. "Our response is, we do review it every year. We've had to make changes to the dress code in the past. We'll look at it again and see where it goes from there.
"That is part of the problem. They want it changed now and we can't change in the middle of a year."
Light said the original intent likely was to have clean-cut young men on campus.
"I think it's still is considered to be good grooming. It's a self-discipline-type of situation," he said. "It has been thought that being clean shaven is the norm for this age of kiddo as we have looked at it in prior years."
Light said the suspension remains.
"As soon as he complies, he would be able to go to class," Light said.
The student is eligible for graduation if he completes his coursework as required of other seniors, Light said.
In late 2020, the Clyde CISD was challenged by a male student who came to school with painted fingernails. That was not permitted for male students. The policy was not immediately changed but the district vowed not to discriminate against any student. The student protesting the policy identified as gay.
More:Fingernail policy remains, but Clyde CISD won't treat students 'in a discriminatory' way
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Wylie ISD senior challenges dress code rule on facial hair, won't shave
