And, every one is happy!
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."
And, every one is happy!
Can you actually quantify the "disruption" caused? Do students spend all day mouth agape looking at his hair? Or is "disruption" just a codeword for anything that people in power disapprove of?
>>A news item create by our ever trustworthy media....<<
The media in Cleveland is owned by the NEA. THAT is why you are hearing about this.
>>I never thought so many Freepers would be such willing participants in the nanny state.<<
The parents in THAT school chose the discipline. It’s like sending your child to a military school and saying that the kids need not follow the rules. If I’m lucky enough to win the lottery and have my child attend that school, damn straight I want all kids to follow the rules. That’s what I’m there for. If another parent wants their own rules, go to the district school and get out of the way for another child who wants to be there.
i agree totally!
I can’t believe that you are equating Charter Schools with Nazis.
Are you a Union teacher? Because I have heard the same from them.
The schools? Your comment was in regards to the mom's "headcase". What is the school's role in any parents "headcase"?
Once you figure that out, we'll get you a badge and make you the “Official Psychologist to the Public Schools” where you can practice your internet diagnosis techniques and keep all of the parents in line.
“...parents are abrogating their rights over their own children when in school.”
Frankly, isn’t this true whenever you send a child out into some public space alone? At least always in a few things if not every aspect?
Each organization should have ITS own rights. If you don’t agree to them, go elsewhere. At least now we still have the choice to stay out of fully “public” schools. When you don’t have any choice, then your concerns are more valid, I’d say.
People are assuming things and it’s wrong, but the one thing that can be said is that the mother was given three warnings about the child’s hairstyle and ignored them.
She chose to put her child in there and follow their rules. She didn’t want to.
Some other lucky child from a failing Parma school got the kid’s spot.
I'm not. I'm (loosely) relating all public schools with Nazis.
Relax.
He is trying his hardest to survive the thread. All you are seeing is a desperate posters death throes.
Try to envision the death rattle.
Ding Ding Ding!
You've got it.
>>I’m not. I’m (loosely) relating all public schools with Nazis.<<
Well, since the thread is about dress codes in a charter, your post should have been clairified.
LOL what sophistry!
LOL!
She should have given him a Semper Fi high-and-tight.
My reference to the media was with respect to folks assuming so much about the situation, not about why the story appeared.
No, how about if you just read the thread before you post.
Are there any pix of this kid's parents?
>>Or is “disruption” just a codeword for anything that people in power disapprove of?<<
Actually, that is exactly what it is.
And choosing that school (mom had a choice) she said, “Yes, I will abide by the rules you set.”
It was her choice. If the administration said that everyone wears purple with pink polka dots and she didn’t like it, she can (as she did) put her child in another school.
That thing looks like an over-grown high-and-tight. The high-and-tight, of course, is the ugliest hairstyle in history, and it's given to Marines to make them even less attractive to women.
So much sturm-undt-drang over such a tiny issue clearly indicates something else is going on behind the scenes. Methinks the school was looking to boot the kid for other reasons, and this was the "technicality" on which they pinned him.
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