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."
It is free but like a lot of free things, it isn’t very valuable and there’s a catch. Been there!
I’m saying that if your daughter didn’t want to get a mohawk, she could leave the team.
This mother had the same option.
I do know the K12 curriculum and it is amazing.
It depends on what you want.
I want a great education for my kids and to be able to be with them.
They indicated only that there was no specific mention of hair styles.
I’d imagine it’s much more difficult to define what hair (a natural thing that keeps growing) can be allowed vs. what clothes (unnatural, and static, and limited in type).
This is another case where I’d agree it can be simply up to the case-by-case judgement and discretion of the authorities in charge.
People do differ on the merits of K12, we found it sadly deficient. Regardless, charter school comes with govt interference and rules.
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.
They got him with a catch-all, in other words, that says anything school officials want baned can be banned, no matter what, whether it's a mohawk-style haircut or a specific type of mechanical pencil. Having a mohawk is really not against the rules, "but you should have known it's against the rules."
My son's HS baseball coach knew that by installing a strict hair code (along w/gym time schedule, weightlifting, and review of the boys' report cards) he would weed out those who weren't serious about playing baseball. The district has a grade point average that had to be met to play varsity sports; but some of the coachs take that a step higher to make sure that their student athletes can handle the rigors of maintaining grades while involved in the intensity of a sports season. Its hard to be a crewcut in a land of designer styles...but a group of them did. And there probably isn't a NY Yankee in the group (maybe a Pgh Pirate or two), but they learned a work ethic and a sense of conformity to rules to attain a goal that will help them later in life.
He needs a good bit of dental work — and to brush his ugly teeth.
I hate mullets. It’s probably the all time worst hairstyle I have ever seen.
He’s a cute kid in spite of the hair. It does him no favors.
“Some parents like to push the boundaries and then wonder why their kids turn out disrespectful of others.”
But one person’s “pushing the boundaries” is another person’s “right to self determination.” Let’s say the fascist, RAT-infested schools decide that it’s “pushing the boundaries” if a student argues with the Global Warming hoax. Hell, they’ve already decided, in some places, that wearing a crucifix or hugging another student is unacceptable behavior. And what’s the next step after that? Mandatory drugging, to make the student more “acceptable”...?
I completely understand a dress code - in fact, I’d be in favor of school uniforms, but it’s none of the School’s business what a student’s hair looks like. Granted, a Mohawk seems a little extreme for a little kid (to me), but if they can control that, why can’t the next step be to demand that boys cannot have long hair, if they want? Or girls can’t wear pony tails?
And the “disrupts the class” story is BS. Sure... a kid coming in the class with a mohawk would disrupt the class... but that wouldn’t last long. In fact, is there WAS a boy with long hair in the class and they came in with a crew cut, it would be the same disruption.... should they expel for THAT, too?
Yes!
And she chose to agree to exactly that.
The woman was told three times that “this was the new rule”. Having a clause in the contract stating that rules can change, gives them the right. She agreed to it. She is not in a district school anyway, she was in a charter.
Entity Rights? I'll have to think about that one. Which is to say that I am speechless.....
If she didn’t like the rules, she didn’t have to send her child to the school. It isn’t a district school it’s a charter, more like a private school.
Honestly, the strict gym time schedule, weightlifting, and academic standards undoubtedly did much more to help them than the haircut rule did. If you have long hair, you can't be serious about baseball? Here's simple proof hairstyle matters not a whit:
Can’t wear a hat at school in our district. They have a no hats, no hoods policy. They claim they need to be able to identify people easily. The one time someone did have a hat on, a teacher called him by name and reminded him of the policy and why. After the teacher left, he wondered why it was necessary to see his face if she knew who it was before she saw it.
We live in a small community.
Good point. LOL.
It’s a bogus catch-all. Basically, you’re supporting the notion that it’s a-o-k for the school to make any sort of decree at all, no matter how ridiculous, or blatantly prejudicial, and the school gets a pass.
OK...help me out here, 'cuz I may be going crazy. Who ever said anything about his daughter getting a mohawk?
Yes, the organization as a whole (incorporated) has rights. Believe it or not. Nothing to be “speechless” about.
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