MONT BELVIEU, Texas – A Texas high school student has missed nearly half of his junior year in the classroom after being disciplined by leaders in his school district for his hairstyle.
Darryl George, 18, was first reprimanded in August after being told that his hairstyle was not in compliance with the Barbers Hill Independent School District’s handbook.
George, an African-American student, wears his hair in locs which his mother said he has been growing out for years but keeps in a neat, protective style while in school.
The teenager was first suspended, then sent to an alternative school, and then placed in In-School Suspension where he has been for the past six months.
SEE ALSO: Texas high school sends Black student back to in-school suspension over his locs hairstyle
He and his family said that the treatment he receives in ISS has been inhumane, noting that he has to sit on a hard stool for hours and is served bologna for lunch each day.
Now, the student and his family said that the district upholding this punishment is a violation of the CROWN Act, which was ironically passed following an identical incident at the very same school back in 2020.
The CROWN Act, which stands for ‘Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair’, became law in Texas in September and is intended to prohibit race-based hair discrimination at work or schools.
Last week, the Barbers Hill ISD superintendent Dr. Greg Poole bought a full-page AD in the Houston Chronicle, defending the district’s position in this case.
Poole stated that academic success within the district is directly connected to its unwavering dress codes. He also shared that within their board of trustees, a lone African American member represents their district.
Some students in the district are allowed to wear their hair without being punished however, Poole says they had to have qualified based on religious reasons.
On Monday morning, KPRC 2+ Now spoke live with the CROWN Act’s co-author, Texas Rep. Ron Reynolds, who said that the bill was specifically created with this hairstyle in mind following the last incident at this school.
“Let me be very clear with you. We passed this bipartisan bill from a lot of effort and a lot of testimony,” Reynolds said. “Barbers Hill knows that it’s violating the CROWN Act. This bill was passed specifically to cover the hairstyle Darryl George is wearing.”
Reynolds added that since he and other legislatures passed the bill, no other school district in Texas has been found disregarding it.
“I am very, very upset and disgusted with Barbers Hill High School,” he said. “Their superintendent, principal, and all of their board of trustees for enforcing a policy that they know is outlawed by the Texas legislature.”
So, how can Barbers Hill continue their stances in this case? Reynolds said they are doing it intentionally, and searching for ways to keep their discriminatory policies in place.
“They know that they’re in violation of the CROWN Act, and they are simply being defiant by trying to find a loophole because the bill didn’t mention length when the spirit and the intent of the bill was to protect those very hairstyles that they are discriminating against.”
According to Reynolds, the district now has pending lawsuits which have been filed by the NAACP and George’s family.
Hours after publishing this article, Barbers Hill ISD Director of Communications, David Bloom, sent KPRC 2′s Moriah Ballard the following statement, saying in part, “Contrary to your report, BH (Barbers Hill) has many students with locs who comply with the length policy. We have one who does not.
Here is the district policy (and it’s been in place before the CROWN Act):
The Barbers Hill ISD Dress and Grooming Code permits protective hairstyles, but any hairstyle must be in conformity with the requirement that male students’ hair will not extend, at any time, below the eyebrows or below the ear lobes. Further, male students’ hair must not extend below the top of a t-shirt collar or 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. Accordingly, protective hairstyles are permitted, but must still comply with the Dress and Grooming Code.”
Bloom also shared that the district has not been made aware of a pending NAACP lawsuit.
He said that the stools were removed from the ISS room and replaced by chairs, and added that George’s family is able to bring him food whenever they want to “but they do not bring anything.”