02-28-2024
Darryl George attended high school at Barbers Hill High School near Houston. Last year, the school district modified a grooming rule to prevent male students from having hair below their eyebrows or ear lobes when down. George wore dreadlocks that he tied up on his head, away from his face and neck. The school suspended him for violating the grooming rule. When the George family protested the policy for violating the CROWN Act, the school district sued in state court to clarify the law.
Texas’s CROWN Act prohibits race-based hair discrimination at work, school, and in housing facilities. The state judge hearing the matter concluded the school’s policy “does not prohibit nor does it discriminate against male students who wear braids, locs, or twists.” The court decided the law did not prevent the district from regulating hair length because it did not expressly refer to it. However, state Rep. Ron Reynolds, who helped write the state's CROWN Act, testified, "Length was inferred with the very nature of the style." Protective styles, i.e., hairstyles suitable for Afro-textured hair, require a certain amount of length, per Reynolds.
NBC News reports the judge’s decision was met with “sighs and gasps” by many in the courtroom. George reportedly said, “I can’t get my education because of my hair. I can’t be around my peers and enjoy my junior year because of my hair.” George's attorney alleges the school's initial grooming policy allowed longer hair so long as students tied it up, but once the school saw male students tying up their locks, the rule changed. The attorney pointed out that if hair cannot be longer than a student's eyebrows, it will not be long enough to braid. Reynolds intends to pursue legislation to prevent school districts from skirting behind a loophole while the George family plans to appeal the decision.