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."
Did you see that I’ve been on this thread for a while?
The equation to a military school is a good one. Any parent CHOOSING a charter school (like a military school) should know going in that there are rules/dress codes/grade requirement that MUST be met.
What's a 'dad'?
Did the school have a rule expressly forbidding the mohawk haircut?
Take away 1/2 your post totals for posting the same thing every thread. /sarc.
It doesn’t matter.
If today the administration says everyone must wear a red rose, the parents agree, by choosing to send their child there, to do it.
Otherwise, they can send their child back to the district school.
Twenty other kids with red roses are waiting to get in there.
Is that a good thing? We've gotten so in the mood in our society that we only ask if something is legal, not if something is right.
People aren’t getting it.
I would guess that they did (I have seen some fairly strict hair cut ‘codes’ relative to sports’ teams my kids have been on). Now would a skilled, intelligent journalist (oxymoron any one?) research that and insert same into his article?
The parent’s make that choice.
They think it is right.
If they don’t like the idea, there are other choices and other children to fill the spot.
Would you be saying the same thing about a private school? It’s basically the same thing.
I take it you have never spent time in a classroom. I get blasted and/or flamed on this message board every so often when I post my opinion that is based on no direct experience or knowledge.
I’m not sure how you quantify a “distraction”. We have not had a student show up with a “spiked mohawk”, but have had some really bizarre hair colors and styles. Several have resulted in students being sent to In-School Suspension and one even to out of school suspension until the hair was toned down.
What kinds of distractions - everything from kids staring and not participating in class due to the fixation, to chatter, to comments (from students), to teachers admitting that they are distracted by the hair.
It is much the same as girls trying to wear super-low cut tops or mini-skirts - attempting to draw attention to “stuff” that should not be getting attention - especially in school.
In an environment that requires balance and effort to maintain conditions that are conductive to learning - someone with a blatant desire to gain attention and/or stir trouble usually don’t have much difficulty in achieving their goal. Dress codes and such are designed (at least here) to take away opportunities to cause distractions and disruptions to the learning environment. It is not about “power”. But you are free to believe what you will. I am fairly certain I won’t be able to change your mind.
No...sadly they are not.
Please!
People have been “conforming” for decades, centuries even, of being expected to wear uniforms, etc, to school, and doing just fine. In fact, who disputes that American kids now are out of control generally, and losers educationally (the greatest country in the world has huge deficits in achievement of current kids???), than in days gone by when even public (gasp!) schools had standards about appearance and enforced them?
It’s common sense. Never mind facts about private/charter schools vs. public school performances.
If every school operates by the same rules, wouldn't they all wind up the same?
If schools are permitted to have different rules, they will be different, and parents will have a choice in how their children will be educated. There will be diversity in the educational environments available. I, for one, am all for choices and diversity in education.
Take another example... It used to be that men's clubs were common throughout the land. Men met and did what men do. They were smoky, dark, ill-mannered and belching was permitted... yeah, even encouraged. Then, in the name of expanding diversity, women were admitted, and the character of these clubs changed or the ceased to exist altogether. Part of our culture was lost. Something different was homogenized, all in the name of diversity.
It depends. If someone at the school notices behavior by a parent that puts the child in danger of physical harm they have a legal (and moral) duty to get the kid out of harm's way.
In my kids' public school, at the beginning of each school year, there are a mountain of forms sent home...and your send back 'receipt' that you 'acknowledge' that the District 'informed' you of your rights to everything from lunches/breakfasts to dress codes to internet access, etc.
I did. I also noted that you actually asked if I was a union teacher. C'mon. If you read my posts, you'd clearly know that is not the case.
I'm assuming a certain level of comprehension, of course. Take a look at posts 71 and 84 for a clue.
>> there were no doubt a gazillion forms that mom had to sign<<
I know I did!!!!
I disagree with you---it most definitely matters. You claim the woman agreed to abide by the rules of the school; if the school did not have a rule expressly forbidding the mohawk-style haircut, how could she have agreed to abide by the rules of the school by not allowing her son to sport a mohawk-style haircut? You're putting her into a situation that's nearly ex post facto in nature.
Correlation does not imply causation
It’s common sense.
Which isn’t so common these days.
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