*A Black high school student is taking a stand against the Texas-based school that punished him for the hairstyle he wore. Darryl George has voiced a request to a federal judge to return to Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, TX for his senior year. The Houston-area institution is located in the Barbers Hill school district.
George has asked the judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would prevent district officials from further punishing him for not cutting his hair. If granted, the restraining order, if granted, would allow the 18-year-old student to return to his school while a federal lawsuit he filed continues, according to the Associated Press.
George’s request is the latest development to occur after U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown in August dismissed most of the claims he and his mother had filed in the federal lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that school district officials committed racial and gender discrimination when they punished him for how he wore his hair.
The AP noted that Brown only let the gender discrimination claim stand as he questioned whether the school district’s hair length rule caused more harm than good.
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George emphasized how important being let back into his school is, as it would allow him to “attend school like a normal teenage student.”
“Judge Brown please help us so that I can attend school like a normal teenage student during the pendency of this litigation,” the student said in an affidavit filed last month.
As it stands now, Brown is complying with George’s request and scheduled a court hearing in Galveston on Oct. 3 . Recently filed Court documents reveal comments from Barbers Hill school district attorneys that state Brown does not have jurisdiction to issue the restraining order because George is no longer a student in the district.
“And George’s withdrawal from the district does not deprive him of standing to seek past damages, although the district maintains that George has not suffered a constitutional injury and is not entitled to recover damages,” attorneys for the school district stated.
In its defense of the dress code, Barbers Hill school district outlined the code, which says its policies for students are meant to “teach grooming and hygiene, instill discipline, prevent disruption, avoid safety hazards and teach respect for authority.”
The court documents highlight comments made by Allie Booker, one of George’s attorneys, who countered the school district’s argument, saying her client was “forced to unenroll” from Barbers Hill High School and transfer to another high school in a different Houston area district. The reason for the transfer, Booker said is because Barbers Hill officials placed George on in-school suspension on the first and second day of the new school year, which began last month.
This “caused him significant emotional distress, ultimately leading to a nervous breakdown. As a result, we had no choice but to remove him from the school environment,” Booker said.
George’s departure “was not a matter of choice but of survival” but he wishes to return, as his mother moved to the area because of the quality of the district’s schools, Booker said.
The AP notes that George spent most of his junior year out of school because of claims made by the school district that his hair length violated its dress code. As a result, George was forced to serve in-school suspension or spend time at an off-site disciplinary program.
The district argued that George’s long hair, which he wears to school in tied and twisted locs on top of his head, violates its policy because if let down, it would fall below his shirt collar, eyebrows or earlobes. The district has said other students with locs comply with the length policy.
George’s federal lawsuit also alleged that his punishment violates the CROWN Act, a recent state law prohibiting race-based discrimination of hair. The CROWN Act, which was being discussed before the dispute over George’s hair and which took effect in September 2023, bars employers and schools from penalizing people because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including Afros, braids, locs, twists or Bantu knots.
For more on Darryl George’s case via Yahoo News, click here
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB: Darryl George: Texas Student Disciplined for Locs Hairstyle Returns to Class Only to be Suspended Again | VIDEO
