Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu is back in the news after putting Darryl George, the black student who was suspended for his dreadlocks back into in-school suspension on Tuesday.
As we previously reported, George served more than a month of in-school suspension over his dreadlocks and then was informed that he will be removed from his high school and sent to a disciplinary alternative education program. After returning from the program, the 18-year-old was suspended once again for 13 days because his hair is out of compliance when let down, according to a disciplinary notice issued by Barbers Hill High School.
RELATED: Black Texas Student Gets Suspended Twice Over His Locs Hairstyle Days After Crown Act Takes Effect In State
According to NBC News, George has already spent more than 80% of his junior year outside of his regular classroom. This whole ordeal first took place back in September when George was suspended after school officials said his twisted dreadlocks violated the district’s dress and grooming code. Although the district’s policy does not prohibit dreadlocks or braids, it states that male student’s hair cannot “be gathered or worn in a style that would allow the hair to extend below the top of a t-shirt collar, below the eyebrows, or below the ear lobes when let down.”
But George’s mother, Darresha George, and Allie Booker, the family’s attorney, have denied that the teenager’s hairstyle violates the district’s policy.
Last month the family filed a formal complaint with the Texas Education Agency and a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state’s governor and attorney general, alleging they failed to enforce a new law outlawing discrimination based on hairstyles.
RELATED: UPDATE: Black Student Who Was Suspended For Having Dreadlocks Will Sent To Alternative Education Program
The lawsuit and supporters of George allege that his ongoing suspension is a violation of Texas’ CROWN Act, a new law that is intended to prohibit “discrimination on the basis of hair texture or protective hairstyle associated with race,” according to state Rep. Rhetta Andrews Bowers, D-Rowlett, who authored the bill.
