Black high school student punished in bizarre way over dress code

A boy was forced to cover his uniquely designed haircut with a magic marker, for violating school dress code policy, and now a school administrator is facing discipline

Melanie Eversley

Apr 26, 2019

A high school administrator in the Houston area has been suspended after a Black student was forced to cover up his shaved haircut with black marker, the New York Daily News is reporting.

The tensions unfolded a week ago, when a woman named Angela Washington, believed to be the mother of the student, posted on Facebook that a Berry Miller Jr. High, in Pearland, Texas, outside of Houston, informed her son that his haircut violated the school’s dress code.

Days later, the marker still appeared on the student’s head, Washington wrote.

At the center of the dispute is an “M” which appeared in the haircut design, which violates the school’s dress code, according to the Daily News.

The Pearland Independent School District issued a statement Tuesday regarding the dress code, which stipulates that: “Hair must be neat, clean and well groomed. Extreme hair styles such as carvings, mohawks, spikes etc. are not allowed.”

The district did acknowledge that the assistant principal, whose identity has not been made public, “mishandled” the situation. The district said that the assistant principal’s actions “do not align with appropriate measures for dress code violations.”

The district also told the Daily News that it reached out to the student’s mother.

“District administration has contacted the student’s family to express our sincerest apology and extreme disappointment in this situation, which does not fall in line with the values of Pearland ISD,” the statement read.

School district Trustee Mike Floyd called for the firing of the assistant principal.

“This is unbelievably unacceptable,” Floyd posted to Facebook. “The culture in Pearland ISD must change, and the assistant principal who did this must be fired.”