7th Grader back in class after suspension over haircut

7th Grader back in class after suspension over haircut

www.590klbj.com

7th grader Derek Jackson says he is back in his normal classes today following his placement in in-school-suspension for having a haircut that was too short; something the school says was both a violation of the school dress-code and a distraction.

Leaders of Austin's NAACP are convinced the suspension of Derek Jackson is racially motivated. Nelson Linder with the NAACP says there's no other reason he can think of why a 7th grader would get in-school suspension for having hair that's too short.
www.590klbj.com

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[edit on 5/18/2007 by ImpliedChaos]

Ok when i first heard this story I said I am not going to be biased against the school...I need to see the pic to fully understand. If you see the pic in the link..There is NOTHING wrong with that boy's hair. He has a simple fade. 80% of black boys have that hairstyle. Its not like he cut a design that said "f-you" or something like that..and its not like he was dirty and had bugs in his hair. Not sure if this was racially motivated but at best it is discriminatory against this specific boy..he has had run ins with the principle before and they were probably just looking for anything to suspend him and that is NOT fair. It just amazes me how a fresh haircut can be disruptive. I guess we should stop taking showers because smelling fresh and clean can disrupt people to.This is a joke. I would like to know how others feel about it.

-->I think this happened in Austin Texas by the way

www.590klbj.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

That's really bizarre

What are these people thinking???

I have to agree with you .

As you said, whether its racially motivated or a personal attack, its wrong no matter how you look at it.


Not that I didn't believe you but I had to see it for my own eyes.

in-school suspension for violating a portion of the district's dress code prohibiting hair styles that are "disruptive".

How could they deem his haircut disruptive is beyond me.

Derek's mother, Amanda, says she met with Bailey Middle School Principal Dr. Julia Fletcher, and Dr. Fletcher told her that the issue was "not worth the fight".

If my child was suspended for no reason, then I'd sure as hell put up a fight. My child would definitely be worth the fight, especially if it meant a permanent strike against him.

I wonder if the principal meant that the child himself was not worth the fight?

Unless it was a white kid who tended to befriend skinheads, I don't see how a haircut could be to short.

The way this kids hair is done imho looks like bootcamp US military style, don't see whats wrong with that.

Any further details why short hair could be a problem in a texan school?

when i was in 3rd grade, like 21 years ago, my dad let me get a mohawk...not a severe on that was 8ft tall but it was a mohawk...i was pulled out of class cause my head was a 'distraction' according to the principle....he called my mom to gome get me....she called my dad and my dad went down and 'dealt with it'...after he left, i returned to class with my mohawk...

still remember the principle....mr fernandez...had a white guy fro and a tom selleck mustasche....pretty sure he was scared of my father


edit* to be fair, it said the kid was in an 'in school suspension'....
what are the details?? i could totally see something like that ESPECIALLY if the kid had run ins with the teachers and such before....i mean, was the kid sitting in class doing his work or was he rubbing his stubble on people or trying to get them to rub his head or something? that 'could' be disruptive and i could totally see them putting him in an ISS till say they talked to his parents or whatever.....

never know though....these days, it does NOT suprise me at all that an innocent kid gets in trouble for a simple hair cut.....in the end, who knows?
everyone is so fast to go to the total extreme these days...

school= OMG, suspension, disruption, OMG!!!!!!111111ONE
parents=OMG, racism, descrimination, GET THE NAACP!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111

know what i mean?

why couldn't the kids dad just go in there and lay it down like my dad did?

"my kid is going back to class. F U if you don't like it. i'm taking him now. call the cops if you want. if this is cause he was doing something disruptive then he WILL BE disciplined at home."
5 minutes...problem solved

[edit on 18-5-2007 by Boondock78]

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
If my child was suspended for no reason, then I'd sure as hell put up a fight. My child would definitely be worth the fight, especially if it meant a permanent strike against him.

I wonder if the principal meant that the child himself was not worth the fight?

I think that what the principal meant was that the issue wasn't worth the fight? At least that's my take on it...

Right, I know that's wht she meant, but that means a lot for the child. It means that suspending the kid wasn't worth fighting for, and that the child's mother shouldn't bother defending him. This can be pretty damaging to a child to think that he's not worth defending, and that he's important enough to get in trouble, but not important enough to have his rights fought for.

You know that it just boils down to some teachers being pure d**k's i have always laughed at the dress and presentation code in schools because even though certain aspects of it are good i.e. kids having a uniform and keeping it clean.

Yet some schools ban things like certain haircuts, innapropraite facial hair and peircings but i'm sorry who actually enforces these rules as they see fit hmmm the Prinicipal someone who can enforce these rules anyway they see fit cause they really are vague rules for example in my old school planner all it says is 'Innappropiate hairstyles' etc. etc. forbidden'

So basically if the Prinicipal hated long hair on kids he could punish them...Prinicipal hates short hair so he can punish those kids. Prinicipal hates peircings so he can punish them the system can be abused by personal preference of the enforcers and that's the problem when school boards sit down and make these rules they should make them 'Clearly' state what is 'Innappropiate'.

and no i'm not making the Prinicipals job harder by 'restricting his powers' i'm clearly telling them what they can and can't do in that case so further cases like the one above where a Prinicipal's actions is now being questioned to be a personal or racially motivated attack can be avoided and the system can't be based on the personal judgements of those that enforce it.

hmmm,,,i joined the army on the split op program my jr year of hs and went to boot camp that summer.

drill sgt thought it would be fun to take us few split op guys and get our fresh buzzcuts before going back home to finish school. so i showed up for my sr year basically bald...and kept my hair within regs the rest of the year (considering iraq had invaded kuwait a couple weeks before this, not real suprising, wasnt sure how long it would be til they said "hmm yer 18 now? you graduate HS tomorrow and report back to ft wood day after" didnt happen but i was young and dumb)

point being, my teachers found nothing wrong with my skinhead like haircut...nor did anyone else....so i see this as one of the dumber issues of late..based on the information in the article anyway

and if the principle didnt feel it was worth fighting for, was it really that good of a decision to begin with?

Would they prefer he had a globe-sized afro with three picks sticking out of it?!

I'd hate to see their reaction to a white kid on chemo.

The school's mission statement:

source

The mission of Gordon A. Bailey Middle School is to educate all students so that they may achieve their maximum intellectual potential. This will allow them to become productive citizens in an expanding global, technological society. The school shall provide unique opportunities for students to grow socially, emotionally, physically, and aesthetically. Bailey Middle School provides a supportive atmosphere created in collaboration with Bailey staff, students, parents, business, community, vertical teams, and institutions of higher learning.

Aesthetically... interesting.

The kid looks good with that haircut. The school was out of bounds here.

I hope this doesn't adversely influence little Derek's attitude toward authority, given that he has had previous run-in's with the principal.

This is the first time I've heard of prohibiting hair thats too short.

I would really, really want to hear their reasoning for this. This is just absurd.

Have you ever been on a principal's $#!+ list? I was all through middle school. And mine would suspend me for any reason possible. After a while, I started to act up just to tick her off. I don't mean to bring in my personal experience here, but I can confirm that it was one of many things that put me against authority.

Maybe it's a good thing.

I think there's probably more to the story. As it said, this kid had been in trouble before and may have gotten the haircut purposely knowing it would be a problem.

Not saying that's the case but it wouldn't be the first time.

Just frickin nuts. My father would have LOVED that cut on me in school. Then again I grew up in the 70's, gotta have my HAIR!

I hope this doesn't adversely influence little Derek's attitude toward authority,

Hehe well we'll have to disagree there - I hope it clues young Derek in to the fact that one should distrust authority at every turn.

As for why, well this is a perfect example.
Give people even a little bit of power over others, and it's certain to be abused.

I mean i understand that he may have had run-ins with the principal but that does not justify the principal's actions. I dont care if he was suspended every other day for fighting, with regards to this 'infraction' they were wrong.

Originally posted by SR
Yet some schools ban things like certain haircuts, innapropraite facial hair and peircings but i'm sorry who actually enforces these rules as they see fit hmmm the Prinicipal someone who can enforce these rules anyway they see fit cause they really are vague rules for example in my old school planner all it says is 'Innappropiate hairstyles' etc. etc. forbidden'

So basically if the Prinicipal hated long hair on kids he could punish them...Prinicipal hates short hair so he can punish those kids. Prinicipal hates peircings so he can punish them the system can be abused by personal preference of the enforcers and that's the problem when school boards sit down and make these rules they should make them 'Clearly' state what is 'Innappropiate'.

I agree that some of the rules schools have are extremely arbitrary or too vague. Just prior to high school my family moved from the East coast to the West coast and being from suburbia I wasn't familiar with street gangs and the like. Reading our High School student handbook it said that no blue or solid red colors were allowed to be worn at high school ... that totally dumbfounded me as to how they could actually enforce banning those two colors.

I asked the admittance counselor about it and was told that it was meant for solid colors only and they only enforced it on identified "gang members". I told her since I wasn't a gang member I didn't plan on signing the student handbook (they made all students sign it in agreement before starting the school year). We had a long, drawn out argument over the whole issue and she kept telling me not to worry and it didn't apply to me since I wasn't a gang member. So I told her to cross out those two paragraphs and I would sign the handbook. Alternatively I offered to allow the paragraph to be re-worded to SOLID colors (since those are the gang colors and I wouldn't wear either solid red or blue shirts/sweaters).

Long story short I never signed and they still let me into the school ... but it took about 2 hours to settle the matter and a phone call to parents who backed my side of the argument.

Of course this is the same school handbook that listed the school demographics as 93% MINORITY and 7% White. I always wondered at what percentage level does the "minority" become majority??