Black student in Texas is suspended again because of hair length

Darryl George, the Texas high school student who was expelled from school earlier this year because his hairstyle violated the dress code, was suspended again Tuesday, the latest flashpoint in a months-long dispute over a school policy that has ended up in the courts.

Mr. George, 18, had just returned to class at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Houston, after spending time in an off-campus disciplinary program, where he had been expelled for his violation of the rules of the school district. dress and grooming policies and other violations.

“While in class, he was told he had violated the school dress code for not cutting his hair and was suspended again,” Candice Matthews, a spokeswoman for Mr. George’s family, said in a statement.

A school official gave Mr. George a 13-day suspension, the second suspension he received this year for violating the dress code.

Mr. George has spent most of his freshman year, which began on August 16, away from regular classes. The case has drawn the attention of state lawmakers and prompted Mr. George’s family to sue state leaders and the school district in federal court.

Mr. George’s first suspension came in late August. According to his mother, Darresha George, he was placed in a cubicle outside the classroom and work was brought to him.

In October, after this suspension, he was transferred to a disciplinary school.

A message sent to Barbers Hill Independent School District was not returned Tuesday evening.

School officials say Mr. George violates the dress code, which requires that a male student’s hair “should not extend below the eyebrows or below the earlobes at any time.”

Mr. George has a hairstyle where he pins his locs in a barrel roll on his head.

When the locomotives of mr. George are secured, they do not extend below the eyebrows or below the earlobes, but officials have told his mother that her son’s hair still violates policy because it would stick out lower than allowed if left loose.

The family claims in their lawsuit that the district’s policy violates the CROWN Act, a new Texas law that prohibits schools and employers from discriminating against hairstyles that are “generally or historically associated with race.”

Rhetta Andrews Bowers, a Democrat in the House of Representatives who wrote the bill, had criticized in the past the school district, which says the dress code policy is an attempt to “find loopholes and circumvent the law.”

Ms. Matthews, who is also vice chair of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, said in a statement Tuesday that the school district was exploiting the “vague language of the law” to “push their racial discrimination agenda toward our children.”

The family worked with state lawmakers to change the law to explicitly address the issue of hair length, Ms. Matthews said.

Ron Reynolds, a Democrat in the state House and chairman of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, said the CROWN Act was intended to protect hairstyles “regardless of length,” adding that he would introduce an amendment in the next legislative session to to clarify this.

“They are acting in bad faith to continue to discriminate against African-American students,” he said in a statement provided by Ms. Matthews.

According to the citation issued to Mr. George on Tuesday, he may return to his regular classes if he “corrects his dress code violation.”