Posted on 02/27/2008 4:56:15 AM PST by E Rocc
PARMA, Ohio -- A kindergarten student with a freshly spiked Mohawk haircut has been suspended by school authorities who said the hair was a distraction for other students.
Michelle Barile, the mother of 6-year-old Bryan Ruda, said nothing in the Parma Community School handbook prohibits the haircut, characterized by closely shaved sides with a strip of prominent hair on top.
"I understand they have a dress code. I understand he has a uniform. But this is total discrimination," she said. "They can't tell me how I can cut his hair."
An administrator at the suburban Cleveland charter school first warned Barile last fall that the haircut wasn't acceptable. The school later sent another warning to her reiterating the ban.
Mohawks violate the school's policy on being properly groomed, school Principal Linda Geyer said. Also, the school district's dress code doesn't mention Mohawks, but it does allow school officials to forbid anything that interferes with the conduct of education.
Ruda's hair became a disruption on Thursday when Ruda arrived freshly shorn, Geyer said. Administrators called Barile on Friday telling her to pick Ruda up from school.
"This was his third infraction," Geyer said Tuesday. "We felt that we were being extremely patient."
Rather than request a hearing to appeal the suspension, Barile said she'll enroll him at another school. Changing the hairstyle is not an option, she said.
"It's something that he really likes," Barile said. "When people hear Mohawk, they think it's long, it's spiked, it's crazy looking, and it's really not."
“Personally I think public schools have more to worry about then haircuts.”
That’s what some people say about Guiliani and graffiti.
Attention to “little things” makes a difference.
So why didnt the school nurse just cut the mohowk off and send him back to class?
Yes. Four of my kids have gone to magnet schools, with rules that are different from the rest of the school system. I chose to send the kids there because of the more strict discipline and GPA standards to stay.
However, I still kept my eye on creeping rules invented by the educrats and meddling parents that are more worried about my kid than theirs.
>>This is an alternative school, meaning this is a child with problems already.<<
No, not in all cases. Parents do send problem children to these schools and in most cases the kids thrive on structure and discipline.
My daughter was and my nephews are in them for the education they offer. If my daughters needed to go back to a school building, I would choose a charter. (If I could get in. They have HUGE waiting lists here in MI)
ANOTHER freaking TRASHY mother not married to his father it looks like!! And what kind of mother lets her kid look like a FREAK???
ROFL!
i think everybody is being a bit crazy here---i would think the overall consensus on FR would be different--- my boys get mohawks every spring since they were in 1st grade- i do it myself and yes i have a husband and he is fine with it, and yes we are bible-believing Christians and i am NOT using my kids to rebel by proxy, or whatever stupid thing somebody mentioned in response this reply. if the school ever suspended my child because of this you could bet i would be all over the news about it---
Ummm. . .maybe. I'm not sure of the rules about charter schools in district in question, but in my state, one CHOOSES to go to a charter school rather than a regular public school. Therefore, one should adhere to the rules set out by that school.
If one doesn't wish to abide by the rules, there's always regular public school.
The hair thing has been a fight in Charters for years.
It’s one of those lines most parents don’t cross. That is, if you really want your kid there.
Parma schools are slipping fast. Parma is an odd city. It borders Cleveland on one side and is total suburbia on the other. This is where the Latino and Arab populations are exploding, as I have heard.
This mom probably heard it was a good school but had no clue what it entailed.
Or, like some parents, just went there for the full day Kindergarten and chose to stay, not thinking about the rules she agreed to.
It worked out for the best. Her darling has his hair in the District school and the other parents have the uniformity they agreed to when they put their children in the school.
I didn’t use the word “offensive”. On an Army Ranger going into battle like many of them did on D-Day, its cool. On an adult just trying to repulse others its Juvenal. On a teenager its stupid and sends out a message that all may not be well at home between him and his parents. On a 6-year old I find it repulsive. Some parents may like it, but I can tell you most don’t.
This boy in the article DOES have a problem, though--his mother.
vaudine
>>if the school ever suspended my child because of this you could bet i would be all over the news about it-—<<
It was her choice to put her kid in that school. She agreed to follow the rules. The only reason this is a big deal is because the NEA that owns Cleveland media is making it a big deal.
Your definition of a Charter School is right on the money. It is a different environment for sure...if a student/parent does not abide by the rules (notice that the kids in this school also were uniforms) you get tossed. No pun intended, but there are many schools of thought that the discipline of a strictly enforced dress/hair/jewelry code ‘focuses’ the children on their tasks. Due to the discipline (and the parents at home installing the since of discipline/respect for the education being received) Charter School kids tend to test alot higher than their contemporaries in the standard public school classroom. And...you are right...the mom pulling this little guy out of the Charter program openned up a spot for some lucky kid on a waiting list. Hope the mom learns from this (but from her tone—as quoted—I don’t think she will).
A news item create by our ever trustworthy media....
I never thought so many Freepers would be such willing participants in the nanny state.
>>This boy in the article DOES have a problem, though—his mother.<<
Truth be told!!!!
Of course - when was that picture taken? Was it after he was sent home? The haircut was described as “spiked”, yet the photo shows it pretty well combed down. Couldn’t be a case of media manipulation, now could it?
I am curious what it looked like when he got to school.
And by the way - we have several students with long “hippy hair” as I call it. The vast majority make no big deal whatsoever about their hair - and just like it that way. It is not a distraction.
A child walks on campus with a spiked mohawk and I guarantee it will cause a disturbance (because that is the intent).
Amen!
I wish MI, like PA allowed Virtual charters.
My girls would be doing K12 for free.
If schools can't have behavioral requirements, there won't be any discipline.
Basically that makes it like the USPS and AmTrack.
It’s not unusual, actually.
i understand what you are saying, i think i was just shocked at how everybody here is totally trashing a mother because of her son's hairstyle and insinuating that she is a loser because of it. i live in a nice community and alot of kids do it here and it is no big deal
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