A judge in Texas ruled Thursday that school officials at a suburban high school did not violate state law by suspending a Black student based on his dreadlocks, a case that sparked national outrage over claims the school’s dress code was discriminatory, even after Texas lawmakers passed a law banning racial discrimination in schools based on students’ hairstyles.
17-year-old Darryl George was suspended at his high school outside Houston in August after school ... [+]
School officials at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas—east of Houston—gave junior Darryl George an in-school suspension at the beginning of the school year in August, arguing his dreadlocks violate the school’s dress code.
The school’s policies require students’ hair to be “clean and well-groomed,” while male students are not allowed to keep their hair below their eyebrows, earlobes or the top of their collars.
While school officials argued George’s dreadlocks violated that provision, his suspension has since been bemoaned by his family and challenged in court, garnering national attention in the wake of a similar incident at a Texas school in 2020 that resulted in a Black student transferring to a new school—a judge in that case found that school’s policy on hair to be discriminatory.
School officials in Mont Belvieu filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit in September, asking for a decision on whether the school’s dress code violated the state’s CROWN Act, which prohibits discrimination based on hair styles “commonly or historically associated with race.”
Allie Booker, an attorney representing George’s family, said the family plans to appeal the decision, multiple outlets reported.
George’s family had also sued Texas state officials in September—including its Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton—claiming the dress code is a clear violation of the CROWN Act.
George’s suspension in late August came just three months after Abbott signed Texas’ CROWN Act into law, prohibiting racial discrimination at schools, workplaces and in housing based on hairstyles. That law—one of two dozen across the country—went into effect Sept. 1, one day after the suspension started.
Family Of Black Teen Suspended For Wearing Dreadlocks In A Texas School Sues Texas Officials (Forbes)
Texas made it illegal to punish students for dreadlocks. A school is testing the limits of the law. (Texas Tribune)