Texas school board leaves hair policy in place that led to Black students’ suspension

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The Texas school district where two Black high schoolers were suspended for wearing dreadlocks decided earlier this week to uphold a controversial grooming policy.

The Barbers Hill Independent School District school board voted unanimously Monday to keep a ban on dreadlocks in place, despite much debate and pushback over the rule, WAMU reports.

Cousins DeAndre Arnold and Kaden Bradford, who both wear long dreadlocks, were suspended by Barbers Hill High School — a school near Houston — in January for violating the rule, which garnered national attention. Arnold chose to transfer to another school district after he was told to cut his hair or risk not walking in his graduation, WFMY-TV reports.

According to the school district’s handbook, a student’s hair cannot be “below the top of a t-shirt collar, below the eyebrows, or below the ear lobes.”

Read More: New Jersey seeks to ban discrimination against Black hair textures and types

Bradford and Arnold were eventually suspended for not adhering to the rules in January. After much debate, the school board voted unanimously Monday to keep the ban in place.

“This was an opportunity for the school board to revise and change its policies so that it could be inclusive and affirming of all students, regardless of sex and race,” said Brian Klosterboer, an attorney with the ACLU of Texas who represents Bradford.

An attorney with the school district said the policy has nothing to do with race, but was about maintaining a standard of excellence in Barbers Hill schools.

Arnold was a senior when he was told by school officials he had the option to cut his dreadlocks or lose the chance to attend prom and graduation.

That’s when his mother, Sandy Arnold, made the difficult decision to transfer him to another school district to complete his school year, according to KPRC-TV.

Read More: Congress members team up to push The Crown Act which would ban hair discrimination

A lawyer for Bradford said he also decided to transfer to another school district so he could keep wearing his dreadlocks.

In May, both of their parents sued the school district over the grooming policy, hoping it would be overturned.

In a hearing, U.S. District Judge George Hanks denied their motion for a temporary restraining order to allow Arnold to attend his graduation, but permitted the lawsuit to proceed.

In a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Bradford’s parents will ask Hanks to allow Bradford to return to Barbers Hill High School while the lawsuit moves forward.

The suspensions have received the attention of many lawmakers that want to make changes in the school policy that they believe are discriminatory.

In February, the Texas Legislative Black Caucus announced they are working on the CROWN Act for the 2021 legislative session.

The bill will ban discrimination based on hair textures and styles commonly associated with race.

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