Distractions to the learning environment ARE within the realm of regulation. Long hair, in-and-of itself is generally not about trying to get attention. A spiked mohawk IS ALWAYS about getting attention.
And by the parent’s response, I strongly suspect that the parent knew there would be a problem and chose to push the issue to get attention for themselves in the first place.
This coming from a 14 year veteran in the classroom.
While I agree with your assessment of the mom, I gotta say that hippy hair and afros and even shaved heads all are about “attention”.
It’s also possible the kid saw it and said “COOL! MOM I WANT ONE!” and the mom found no reason to stop it. An finding a public school to be out of line on it’s control isn’t exactly at odds with a lot of people on this forum.
Looking at the pic, he’s got a conservative (socially) haircut. It just happens to be a conservative mohawk.
That explains a lot.
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?