After being suspended for more than a month due to his dreadlocks, a Black teenager in Texas was expelled from his high school and placed in a disciplinary alternative education program on Thursday.
Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, has been expelled since August 31. In a letter sent on Wednesday, the administrator notified the family that their son would be sent to EPIC, an alternative school program, beginning on October 12 and ending on November 29 for “failure to comply” with many campus and classroom standards. The Associated Press was sent the letter.
According to Principal Lance Murphy’s letter, George has regularly disobeyed “previously communicated standards of student conduct” at the school. The letter further indicates that George is not able to return to the high school campus until November 30 unless he is present to discuss his actions with school officials.
Male students are not authorized to have hair that extends over the brows, ear lobes, or the top of a T-shirt collar, according to the Barbers Hill Independent School District student handbook. Furthermore, all students must keep their hair in a hygienic, well-groomed, geometrical cut that is devoid of any artificial color or variation. Uniforms are not needed at this location.
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Darresha George, George’s mother, and the family’s attorney both said that their son’s haircut is not incorrect. The family filed complaints with the Texas Education Agency last month against the state’s governor and attorney general for failing to enforce new anti-discrimination rules based on haircuts.
The family contends that George’s disciplinary measures following his suspension are in violation of the CROWN Act, which went into effect in the state on September 1. The legislation, which stands for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” prohibits hair discrimination as well as punishment in schools and workplaces for wearing protective hairstyles such as Afros, braids, dreadlocks, twists, and Bantu knots.
The federal version was passed by the House but failed to pass the Senate last year.
The school district has also filed a lawsuit in state district court, asking a judge to determine on whether the dress code requirements that limit the length of males’ hair violate the CROWN Act. The complaint was filed in Chambers County, east of Houston.
Two other Black male students at George’s school had previous disputes with the administration about the dress code.
Barbers Hill authorities warned cousins De’Andre Arnold and Kaden Bradford in 2020 that they must remove their dreadlocks. Their family filed a lawsuit against the school district in May 2020, arguing that the district’s hair policy was discriminatory. Their pending case was a major factor in Texas passing the CROWN Act. Both dropped out of school, however Bradford returned once the judge issued his ruling.
