Darryl George, a Black student from Texas, has been transferred to a disciplinary alternative education program after being suspended from his high school over his dreadlocks, according to PEOPLE.
In a letter to Darryl’s family, Principal Lance Murphy stated that the 18-year-old’s removal from Barbers Hill High School was due to infractions such as classroom disruption, failure to comply with staff rules, and violation of the school’s dress and grooming guidelines.
Darryl, who had been on in-school suspension since August 31 due to his twisted locs, was suspended again on September 18 for the same hairstyle.
His family has filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that his suspension violates Texas’ CROWN Act, which prohibits natural hair discrimination. Allie Booker, Darryl’s family attorney, wrote in the lawsuit that Darryl
“should be permitted to wear his hair in the manner in which he wears it … because the so-called neutral grooming policy has no close association with learning or safety and when applied, disproportionately impacts Black males.”
The school district claims that its grooming code allows protective hairstyles but imposes length restrictions on male students’ hair. Barbers Hill High School Principal Lance Murphy wrote in a letter to Darryl’s parents that as principal,
“I have determined that your child has engaged in chronic or repeated disciplinary infractions that violate the District’s previously communicated standards of student conduct.”
He added,
“Your child has had the misconduct explained to him and has been given the opportunity to present his responses to these charges,”
the letter continued.
The family attorney alleges that Darryl’s transfer to the alternative program is an act of retaliation.
“During the grievance, they asked me to agree to take the case out of federal court. I told them no. All of this was at the grievance…[On Wednesday] they filed a motion to pull it out of the federal court and the judge struck the motion for non-compliance with court rules, so they retaliated by putting Darryl in DAEP,”
the family attorney claimed.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
