BAYTOWN, Texas – Xavier Davis had no idea his hair could cause him so much trouble.
Xavier is a sixth grader at Cedar Bayou Junior High School in Baytown.
When he walked into class last Thursday, he said he was promptly sent to the office.
"I was walking into class, and she saw my hair and said, 'You can't have two lines in your hair. Go to the office,'" Xavier said.
The school, he said, ordered him to fix the haircut by Monday, or be punished with in-school suspension.
"I don't think it's fair," Xavier said.
"He's had his hair cut like this for six months and now all of a sudden it's a problem?" said his father, Matt Davis.
One day of in-school suspension was enough for Xavier.
A new school-approved single line has been created, courtesy of his mother.
"He had a space here and a space there," Matt Davis said. "She took a Sharpie permanent marker and colored the bottom of his hair in, so in order for him to get an education, we have to treat his hair like a coloring book, I guess."
The district dress code listed in the code of conduct says:
"Letters, symbols, and designs beyond a single straight line which draw attention to an individual shall not be permitted. The administrator/supervisor reserves the right to determine if a hairstyle is disruptive to the educational process."
"I don't know if having one line or two is a distraction to learning, it's not a distraction to me," Matt Davis said. "It's nonsense. We send him here to get an education. We send him here to learn. It's not about his haircut."