HOUSTON (AP) — A black Texas high school student who was disciplined for nearly his entire senior year for his hairstyle has chosen to leave the school district rather than serve another year of in-school suspension, his lawyer said.
But Darryl George, 18, wants to return to his senior year of high school in the Houston area’s Barbers Hill School District, and he has asked a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order blocking district officials from further disciplining him for not cutting his hair, allowing him to return to school while his federal lawsuit is ongoing.
George’s request came after U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown in August dismissed most of the claims in a federal lawsuit filed by George and his mother that school district officials committed racial and sex discrimination in their treatment of George.
The judge only allowed the sex discrimination claim, questioning whether the school district’s hair length rules caused more harm than good.
“Judge Brown, please help me to attend school like a normal teenager while this litigation is pending,” George said in an affidavit filed last month.
Judge Brown is scheduled to hold a court hearing in Galveston on Oct. 3 at George’s request.
In court documents filed last week, lawyers for the school district said the judge did not have the authority to issue a restraining order because George is no longer a student in the district.
“George’s departure from the district does not deprive him of his right to seek past damages, but the district argues that he has not suffered constitutional injury and is therefore not entitled to damages,” the district’s lawyers said.
The district has defended its dress code, saying it is intended to teach students “good grooming and hygiene, instill discipline, prevent disruptions, avoid safety hazards and teach respect for authority.”
In court documents filed last week, Allie Booker, one of George’s attorneys, said George was “forcibly removed” from Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu and transferred to another high school in a different Houston-area school district after Barbers Hill officials suspended him on the first and second days of the school year that began last month.
“This caused him great emotional distress and ultimately led to a nervous breakdown, so we had no choice but to remove him from the school environment,” Booker said.
George’s departure “wasn’t a matter of choice, it was a matter of survival,” but he wants to return, because his mother moved to the area because of the district’s high quality schools, Booker said.
George was unable to attend regular classes for most of the 2023-24 school year, his senior year of high school, because the school district determined that the length of his hair violated the dress code. He was either suspended in school or forced to participate in an out-of-school disciplinary program.
George comes to school with his long hair tied up and twisted on top of his head, which the district claims violates school rules because when he lets his hair down it falls over his shirt collar, eyebrows and earlobes. The district says other students who wear their hair tied up comply with the length rules.
George’s federal lawsuit also alleges that his punishment violates the CROWN Act, a recent state law that bans racial discrimination regarding hair. The CROWN Act, which was discussed before the George hair controversy and takes effect in September 2023, prohibits employers and schools from disciplining people because of their hair texture or protective hairstyles, such as afros, braids, locs, twists and Bantu knots.
In February, a state court judge ruled in a lawsuit brought by the school district that the punishment did not violate the CROWN Act.
Barbers Hill’s hairstyle policy was also challenged in a federal lawsuit filed in May 2020 by two other students. Both students were expelled, but one was reinstated after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction, arguing that expulsion would “substantially likely” violate their rights to free speech and freedom from racial discrimination. The lawsuit is still pending.
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