Darryl George, a Black high school student in Texas, was punished by being isolated for more than a month because of the manner he wore his hair. He was removed from his peers this week and placed in a disciplinary program, where he will remain for the next three weeks.
In an interview with The Associated Press, George voiced his dissatisfaction at having to miss class to train with the football team.
“I feel like I’m missing out on my full experience of being in the classroom,” George said on Thursday.
School officials in the Houston area expelled 18-year-old George from class in August, claiming that his locs violated the district’s dress code by falling below his brows and ear lobes. His family insists that his haircut does not break any standards.
Before he is allowed to return to Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, George will have missed 56 of the first 67 school days of his junior year. The family says that the state failed to execute its new law against discrimination based on hairstyle, and has filed a federal civil rights suit as a result.
George’s parents, on the other hand, have informed us that their son has no plans to move. They intend to make a message at a school where problems have already occurred between Black male students and others who do not share their views.
“We must take a stand and inform them,”Darryl is not going to cut his hair. Darryl, on the other hand, will not let this go. Candice Matthews, a civil rights activist, spoke on behalf of the family, saying, “No, you’re not going to kick Ms. George and her family out of their neighborhood.”
After weeks of in-school suspension for dress code breaches and other infractions such as tardiness, disturbance, and disobedience, George’s parents got a letter from the principal sending him to the disciplinary program.
According to Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole, who told the Associated Press in an email on Friday that officials cannot reveal the infractions that led to George’s current location, George’s current categorization was not based on his hair.
Darresha George’s mother said that her kid swore once in response to the in-school reprimand. According to his relatives, George has two tardiness offenses. However, they ascribe the problem on his refusal to trim his hair.
The family’s attorney, Allie Booker, stated, “They are retaliating, and that is all this is.”
George began his first day of disciplinary school on Thursday, where he would be obliged to sit in a cubicle and perform homework. He is allowed to take brief breaks, but he must remain in the room. He has access to teachers inside the program, but he is anxious that he is falling behind.
“I’m just not learning what they’re trying to teach me,” he explained.
According to Renuka Rege, a social justice advocate with Texas Appleseed, school districts in the state have broad discretion in evaluating whether violations justify expulsion or placement in a disciplinary alternative education program. She did, however, state that it was extremely improbable that a child would be expelled for violating the dress code.
Rege stated that disciplinary regulations at a school can be “extremely severe” if the management so chooses. “Many Texas school districts still strongly adhere to a zero-tolerance policy.”
Ashley Sawyer, a civil rights advocate, stated that students of color are disproportionately impacted by school dress code and hair policy violations. She argued that children are under pressure to change their looks in ways that do not represent their cultural background.
George’s family has requested two religious exemptions for his hair. Booker stated that one request was denied and another was awaiting a response.
Many of my male ancestors had locs. Darresha George believes that the hairstyle has cultural and religious significance.
Darryl’s mother states that her son’s lack of self-control manifests itself both at home and at school.
The pain goes undetected. The suffering is concealed. The tears are concealed from view. Something tells me I should look into this. I have to see how he miserably gets up and confronts the day. “It weighs on me as his mother,” she wept, “because I have to see my child go through this.”
Darryl George has expressed a wish for the old circumstances to be restored.
“I hope I can start being a kid again, start living my life, start playing football, and enjoy my year, my last few years of high school,” he went on to say.
