Please help : public school laws

One of my friends here in Texas was nearly EXPELLED from her highschool for having dreads and refusing to take them out, eventually she did to avoid the repercussions. This is a PUBLIC highschool in Texas. My question is, do public schools have the right BY LAW to regulate hair styles? I have been looking into this subject for the last couple of hours and am not turning much up. I am willing to bet someone around here knows something about this though. I could understand a religious school and private school of some kind enforcing policy like this, but a public school? It is written in their student hand book that they cannot have any un-natural hair color or hip hair styles. WTF, please help me with this information.

 

ask in the dready forum

 

I was going to post this there but my question is more about the education system really than dreads specifically. If a mod wants it moved though that's cool, i just don't know how to.

 

Im just saying that the dreadies would probably know more about the hairstyle rules

but who knows?...maybe some will see it here

 

Dunno.
All I know is that schools somehow manage to recruit the most jumped up, pathetic excuses for people onto their staff.

 

you have no constitutional rights as a public school student.

at least, that's what the supreme court says

freedom of speech does not apply to you.

 

I've thought of a loophole.

Isn't Rastafarianism classed as a religion in some places?
If so, maybe it can be classed as religious discrimination.
But I suspect its gotta be "fundamental to that religion" or sthg like that?

 

It doesn't even affect me at all, i just find this upsetting, AND unsettling...

 

If "distracting hairstyles" are against school dress code as listed in the school handbook, then there's nothing she can do but abide by the rules or transfer to a school that doesn't put so much of their attention into dress code. If she signed the papers that I know I always had to sign with the handbook, then she's bound by contract to observe and follow the dress code. It sucks, but it's life, you have to adhere to dress codes. The best she can do is take her case to the school board and try to convince them to lift some of the dress code restrictions, but that's not likely to happen in a place that apparently cares enough to have one in the first place.

 

I don't see dreads as a distracting hair style, as I'm sure you don't either... but, like you said, I remember signing that shit in highschool as well.

 

i see them as distracting. dirty, smelly, gross looking - public school is not a place for that

 

If the teachers notice it as "different", it's distracting. Just as long hair on guys isn't distracting to me, it's still considered a distracting hairstyle. Trust me, I spent the entirety of my 4 years of high school fighting the dress code to no avail. They even got to the point where they tried to tell us we couldn't wear black! I shut that shit down, lol.

 

last year i read about a native american boy in a texas public school system. They claimed his long hair was distracting to other students and not an appropriate length for a young boy. I heard his parents took the case to court but who knows what the outcome was
texas sucks anyway

 

That's good and all dude, but can't we pick our battles? I mean, is it really worth taking faculty time to death with such a trivial issue? I think our public schools have FAR worse problems to be worrying about...

 

If he had what they call his "Indian card", there should've been no problem period. My school was full of bullshit with their dress code, but my friend Jon had his card and he kept his hair halfway down his back, with the only restrictions being he had to have it tied back or braided. My other friend John shaved his head into a short mohawk, and he was able to keep it like that, cuz well, he had his card. I'm sure the fact he was 2 weeks from graduating helped, too, lol.

 

exactly. why fight to keep your hair looking ugly?

does seem like a pointless stupid rule, but oh well, it's just a bad hairdo.

 

You guys are missing the point of this thread, which isn't just rights for people with dreads. They regulate hair color and everything. I suppose the other side of the argument is that all of the public schools are government funded like mentioned earlier, so they can make the rules as well. I don't know... still seems oppressive to me.

 

its bullshit. the fact that youre in texas doesnt help much either

 

Yea, I'm just glad I don't have to deal with that crap... feel bad for the kiddies though

 

Hey, Texas isn't all that bad. There are worse states.